US judge rebuffs $85 million fee request by lawyers in Google Play antitrust litigation
A federal judge rejected for now consumer lawyers’ request for $85 million from Google’s $630 million Play Store settlement, saying their billing records lacked sufficient detail. The requested fee was 13.5% of the fund.
1. Fee request rejected for now
US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco said the lawyers had not provided adequately detailed billing records to justify the $85 million award. He described the records as “utterly lacking in information demonstrating what work was done and for what purpose” and gave the plaintiffs another chance to support their request.
2. Settlement work questioned
Donato also questioned whether the consumer lawyers alone were responsible for securing the $630 million settlement, noting that attorneys for all 50 states and other government entities participated in the litigation. The consumer lawyers said in a December filing that their team devoted nearly 100,000 hours to the case. Google agreed in 2023 to pay $630 million into a consumer fund and $70 million into a separate fund managed by states, while denying wrongdoing.
