Google class action alleges company revoked free Workspace access

Google Workspace class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: The Stratford Company LLC, a small real estate business in Washington, filed a class action lawsuit against Google.
• Why: Stratford claims Google promised its Workspace suite for free, but has reneged its promise in favor of fees. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

A real estate management company filed a class action lawsuit alleging Google broke its promise to early testers of its Workspace suite that the service would always be free to them. 

From Workspace’s launch in 2006 (then Google Apps and later G Suite) through 2012, Google promised early users that the service would always be free to them as long as Google offered it, according to the class action complaint.

The Stratford Company signed up for Google Workspace in 2008 as a free alternative to Microsoft Office and “was understandably stunned in April 2022” when it was notified Google would begin charging for Workspace usage, according to the complaint. 

Stratford seeks to represent a nationwide class of “all persons or entities” that signed up for Workspace during Google’s “free-for-life promotion” (between 2006 and 2012) and were still receiving free Google Workspace service as of Jan. 1, 2022.

Google allegedly breaks Workspace contract promise

When Stratford signed up for Workspace, the form contract expressly stated Google would “continue to provide a version of the Service (with substantially the same services as those provided as of the Effective Date) free of charge to Customer,” and “Google reserves the right to offer a premium version of the Service for a fee,” per court documents. 

Stratford says it and other adopters rode out the “many defects and gaps,” and “even actively worked with Google to help improve the suite of services, often providing feedback and commentary.” 

Google lured users in with its “free-for-life promise” to use “customers’ experiences and their use of the Workspace service to help remove the kinks and refine a service Google could then market to other customers for a fee,” as well as to “entice customers away” from competitors and collect and use “their personal and business data,” the complaint argues.

Beginning in January 2022, Google announced that “within a few months it was going to completely stop providing a free version of Workspace to the remaining free-for-life customers,” the complaint says. Customers could either begin paying for service or have their Workspace suspended.

Many customers, including Stratford, “reluctantly decided to pay Google’s ransom,” the complaint says. After “public outcry,” Google began to allow only non-business users to “opt-out” of the new requirement and continue to receive a free version of Workspace.

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The plaintiff is represented by Roger N. Heller of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.

The Google Workspace class action lawsuit is The Stratford Company LLC v. Google LLC, Case No. 5:22-cv-04547-NC, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. 

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