Recently, a federal court in California approved a $62 million settlement in a class action lawsuit against Google for violating the privacy rights of millions of users. Despite disabled account settings, Google tracked user location information. Unfortunately, as a Google user, you won’t receive any of the settlement money. Instead, the funds will be paid to left-wing advocacy groups, with little benefit to the affected users.
This practice, known as cy-près doctrine, allows courts to allocate settlement funds to organizations contrary to the interests of affected individuals. In the case of Google, funds will go to organizations such as the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Rose Foundation, which may not align with the values of Google users. This practice has been contested, but courts have often allowed it to continue.
Despite objections by some class members represented by Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, cy pres settlements are still prevalent. Courts have the power to reject these settlements, leading to direct distribution of funds to individual class members. However, the legal system needs stricter protection against cy pres to ensure that funds rightfully belong to injured consumers and not organizations with differing agendas.
The hope is for the Supreme Court to impose stricter regulations on cy pres settlements to protect the interests of class members in the future. As it stands, left-wing plaintiffs’ lawyers and tech companies may continue to allocate settlement funds without the consent of affected individuals.
