Plaintiffs lawyers' fee slashed in Google privacy settlement
A judge has reduced the fee award sought by plaintiffs' attorneys in a privacy settlement against Google, cutting the amount lawyers will receive from the case.
Why this matters: Privacy class actions are already a hard sell for ordinary people. The settlements often pay out pennies to actual users while lawyers collect millions. A court stepping in to cut those fees is not a bad thing on its face. But it can also reduce the incentive for lawyers to take on big tech companies in the first place. Who brings the next case if the payout does not cover the fight? The people harmed by Google's conduct are mostly invisible in this headline. That is usually how it goes.
Who should care: Lawyers · Privacy officers · Compliance · General readers · Policy
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