Lenovo Laptop Users Ask Court to Approve $8.3M Adware Settlement

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Lenovo laptop users asked a California federal court last week to approve an $8.3 million class action settlement resolving allegations that a pre-installed software program on Lenovo computers, called VisualDiscovery, caused performance, privacy, and security issues.

Under the proposed deal, filed July 11, around 500,000 Class Members would receive around $40 in cash, or receive around $750 in documented costs for the pre-installed computer program that was allegedly defective.

If approved, the Lenovo class action settlement would end a consolidated class action against Lenovo, a computer manufacturer, and the software development company that reportedly made the VisualDiscovery program, the now-defunct Superfish Incorporated. The class of affected consumers is composed of both direct and indirect buyers of Lenovo computers that have VisualDiscovery pre-installed.

The Lenovo settlement includes a $7.3 million deal struck with Lenovo and $1 million paid to consumers by Superfish. Plaintiffs claim the total $8.3 million settlement would be 24% of an estimated $35 million that they would be able to recover had the case gone to trial, in a “best case” scenario.

In their filing Wednesday, consumers asked the federal judge to modify their previously determined class to include individuals who purchased a Lenovo laptop between September 1, 2014 and February 28, 2015.

There will be a hearing for the proposed Lenovo settlement on September 20, 2018.

Lenovo Adware Litigation Poised to End

The proposed deal could mark the end of over three years of litigation. The Lenovo advertising software class action lawsuit was first transferred to the California federal court in June of 2015.

The Lenovo software class action lawsuit brought claims forward under federal law, New York state law, and California law. The consumers claim that VisualDiscovery enabled Superfish to monitor a computer user’s internet activity and using the information gained, send tailored advertisements to the user.

Allegedly, around 800,000 affected laptops were sold.

Allegedly, these actions violated consumer privacy, and left computer users vulnerable to security breaches. Additionally, the consumers claim the software made the computers perform less well than they otherwise should have, wasting the computers’ memory and causing the computer to run inefficiently.

The consumers claim that Lenovo has already faced pushback for their use of the software, noting that in September, the company entered into a $3.5 million consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from 32 states. The decree prohibits the computer company from misrepresenting any features of advertising software that is automatically installed in the computers to consumers. The decree also prohibits the company from sharing sensitive consumer information with third parties.

The consumers are represented by Jonathan K. Levine, Elizabeth C. Pritzker, and Bethany Caracuzzo of Pritzker Levine LLP, Daniel C. Girard, Elizabeth A. Kramer and Andre M. Mura of Girard Gibbs LLP, and Stephanie D. Biehl of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP.

The Lenovo Adware Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Lenovo Adware Litigation, Case No. 4:15-md-02624, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: January 2019, the Lenovo adware class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 2: On Nov. 12, 2019, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks in the mail worth up to $244.52. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!