Plaintiffs lawyers' fee slashed in Google privacy settlement

The judge said the settlement's primary value was not money for class members but a requirement that Google provide disclosures about Android users' cellular data.

Google in January agreed to pay $135 million to settle the proposed class action. As part of the settlement, the Alphabet unit said it will not transfer data without obtaining consent from Android users when they set up their phones.

“While the value of such transparency cannot be easily or accurately quantified, such relief is still significant in that it enables users to make informed decisions about whether to consent to the cellular data usage and continue using Android devices,” DeMarchi wrote in her order.

The initial $39.8 million sought by lead plaintiffs' attorneys at Bartlit Beck and Korein Tillery amounted to about 29% of the settlement fund. Attorneys at those firms did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google had opposed the requested legal fees, and a spokesperson for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A U.S. federal judge in San Jose has awarded Bartlit Beck and other plaintiffs’ firms a reduced legal fee of about $29 million for their work on a settlement resolving a lawsuit that accused Google of programming its Android operating system to collect the cellular data of smartphone users without their permission.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia DeMarchi approved the settlement on Friday but said the requested fee of nearly $40 million would have overcompensated the plaintiffs' lawyers.