Rodriguez v. Google LLC
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20-cv-04688-RS (N.D. Cal. Jan. 3, 2024)
expectation.” *9 Opperman v. Path, 13-cv-00453JST, 2016 WL 3844326 at *11 (N.D. Cal. July 15,
2016) (discussing the elements of the intrusion
upon seclusion tort); see also Hill v. Natl.
Collegiate Athletic Assn., 7 Cal.4th 1, (1994)
(holding that, for the state constitutional privacy
cause of action, “a reasonable expectation of
privacy is an objective entitlement founded on
broadly based and widely accepted community
norms.” (internal quotations omitted)). Instead, the
claim requires: “(1) intrusion into a private place,
conversation or matter, (2) in a manner highly
offensive to a reasonable person.” Opperman,
2016 WL 3844326 at *11 (quoting Shulman, 18
Cal.4th at 231) (emphasis in original).
Google invokes Hart v. TWC to argue that
individual inquiries as to whether putative class
members had a reasonable expectation of privacy
can defeat predominance. No. 20-cv-03842-JST,
2023 WL 3568078 (N.D. Cal. March 30, 2023). In
that case, the plaintiffs averred that The Weather
Channel (“TWC”) violated the California
Constitution when it tracked and collected users'
data and engaged in a scheme to sell that data to
third parties and business partners without users'
knowledge. Id. at *1. The court determined that
ascertaining if users maintained a reasonable
expectation of privacy required “an individualized
factual inquiry” into whether they knew their
affirmative responses to the permission prompts
allowed TWC to engage in the averred
misconduct. Id. at *10. Furthermore, the Court
held that analysis of an individual user's “conduct”
could also defeat predominance by manifesting
“voluntary consent.” Id. (citation omitted).
Here, those same considerations weigh in favor of
predominance. First, the relevant “conduct”
showing a lack of consent is the users' decisions
affirmatively to switch off the WAA and sWAA
buttons. It is not, as Google tries to argue, the fact
that users continued using apps with Google's
SDKs. It is unreasonable for Google to expect, as
it does, that users must also stop using the many
apps on their phone, after selecting sWAA to be
10
off, to show a lack of consent. This places an
undue burden on everyday users who indicated
their privacy preferences by turning off sWAA.
Second, Google's argument places an impossible
burden on Plaintiffs that would preclude injunctive
relief altogether: they must stop using the many
apps on their phones to avoid consenting to the
wrongful conduct, unfairly undercutting standing
to seek injunctive relief. *10 See infra at IV.A.II.c.
Third, both the third party apps in this case and
TWC in Hart provided its users with privacy
disclosures when the app was opened. Separately
from these disclosures, putative class members
here affirmatively sought out and clicked on
Google's WAA and sWAA buttons, a common act
representing their privacy choices, based on
Google's own ubiquitous representations. In Hart,
TWC was both the app facing users and the
defendant; user's reasonable expectations as to
TWC's conduct was the basis of the court's
decision there. By contrast, Google is the party
engaging in the alleged wrongful conduct separate
from the third party apps making disclosures to
class members. Individual representations by the
third party apps here do not outweigh Google's
common representation to users for purposes of
finding predominance.
Despite Google's insistence otherwise, whether the
amount or nature of data collected is a factspecific inquiry does not by itself defeat
predominance, because the relevant question is
whether the members, who shared common
conduct, had an objective, reasonable expectation
of privacy based on Google's representation about
the sWAA button to all members under these
claims. This is a question capable of resolution
class-wide.
b. Highly offensive conduct
The second element of both claims, whether the
intrusion was “highly offensive,” also warrants
class treatment. Google argues this is a complex
question that “requires consideration of all the
circumstances of intrusion, including its degree
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