Facebook Class Action Lawsuits Reassigned as First Korean American Federal Appellate Judge Named

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Facebook Consolidated Class Action Lawsuit New Judge Overview:

• Who: U.S. District Judge James Donato will hear eight consolidated proposed class actions against Facebook after Judge Lucy H. Koh was promoted to the Ninth Circuit.
• Why: The senate recently voted to elevate Judge Koh to serve as a federal appellate judge. She is the first Korean American woman to do so.
• Where: The cases against Facebook will be heard in the Northern District of California.

A group of similar cases against Facebook that accuse the tech giant of monopolizing social media markets will now be heard by a different judge after the initial judge got a promotion. 

U.S. District Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California will now hear the eight consolidated proposed class actions initially filed against Facebook in December 2020 after Judge Lucy H. Koh was promoted to the Ninth Circuit.

The move comes just over a month after the Senate voted to make Judge Koh the first Korean American woman to serve as a federal appellate judge. With Judge Koh moving up, Judge Donato has been left to oversee the class action cases against Facebook. 

The proposed class action complaints date back to December 2020 when consumers and advertisers alleged that Facebook misrepresented its data privacy practices to lure users onto its platform.

In one of the complaints, two Facebook users, Maximilian Klein of Vermont and Sarah Grabert of Illinois, claim that the social media giant intentionally misleads the public about its data privacy protections to attract consumers and solidify the platform’s “utter domination” of the social media market.

Facebook promises to protect user data but actually mines it for information about other social media outlets as part of an ongoing “copy, acquire or kill” campaign to rid it of any competition, the class action lawsuit claims. 

If not for Facebook’s antitrust practices, there would be more social media platforms to choose from, the lawsuit alleges.

Judge Donato Has Experience With Facebook Cases

Judge Donato has handled a number of cases against Facebook in the past. In 2018, he tossed a proposed class action lawsuit against Facebook alleging its biometric policy violated Illinois’ privacy laws.

In 2020 the partially granted and partially denied two motions to dismiss claims from two separate class action lawsuits against Facebook claiming it was tracking cellular location data from users’ phones without their consent.

Judge Donato also presided over another class action accusing Facebook of using facial-recognition technology without users’ consent. That case ended with a $650 million settlement Judge Donato approved almost a year ago.

What do you think of Judge Donato handling the consolidated cases? Let us know in the comments! 

The consumers are represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP, Barrack Rodos & Bacine and Pomerantz LLP.

The Facebook Monopoly Consolidated Class Action Case is Maximilian Klein et al. v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 5:20-cv-08570, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Facebook, Now ‘Meta,’ Accused of Exploiting Children in Lawsuit Lodged by Ohio AG
• Meta Concealed Its Harmful Inner-Workings of Facebook, Falsely Touted Commitment To Good, Says Class Action
• Investors File Class Action Lawsuit Against Meta After Research Shows Instagram Harms Mental Health of Teenagers
• Facebook Cries Foul On FTC’s Bid To Nix Dismissal Of Antitrust Lawsuit