A team of lawyers who led a massive class action against social media giant Meta over privacy practices at Facebook stand to collect as much as $180 million in legal fees, after a federal judge in San Francisco signed off on a $725 million settlement to end the five-year long court fight.
It is not known how much money individual Facebook users may expect from the deal. But based on past history, the amount likely may not exceed $10 per person.
On March 29, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria granted preliminary approval to what is billed as the largest data privacy class action settlement in U.S. history.
From left: Attorneys Derek Loeser and Lesley Weaver
| Keller Rohrback; Bleichmar Fonti & Auld
The settlement would end a consolidated class action against the company formerly known as Facebook. The lawsuits were filed in the wake of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The lawsuits asserted Facebook’s policies allowed third-party app operators – notably including data mining firm Cambridge Analytica – to collect and exploit user information to target users with posts and ads. Cambridge Analytics was particularly accused for using their data mining practices to aid the 2016 campaign of former President Donald Trump.
The lawsuits claimed Facebook violated its contract with users by allegedly allowing their data to be obtained and used by third parties; that Facebook’s actions allegedly violated the federal Video Privacy Protection Act and the Stored Communications Act; and that Facebook was negligent and committed various personal privacy torts by allowing for “public disclosure of private facts,” including violations of the right to privacy under the California state constitution, among others.
The class actions, which were filed in various locales, were consolidated by the federal courts and transferred to Judge Chhabria in the Northern District of California.
In the years since, Meta and Facebook has failed to dismiss the cases. Proceedings have at times been rancorous. Plaintiffs, for instance, secured an order from the judge, requiring Meta and its lawyers from the firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher to pay $1 million in sanctions for allegedly engaging in practices the court determined improperly prolonged the proceedings.
However, in a motion for settlement filed last December, the plaintiffs faced uncertain futures, should they proceed to trial.
With this in mind, the parties advanced to settlement talks, ultimately resulting in a deal under which Meta would pay $725 million to end the lawsuits.
The settlement deal will allow attorneys who led the consolidated class action to request as much as 25% of the settlement funds for their fees, or nearly $181 million.
While other lawyers would be entitled to a share of any fees, attorneys Derek W. Loeser, of the firm of Keller Rohrback LLP, of Seattle, and Lesley E. Weaver, of the Bleichmar Fonti & Auld firm, of Oakland, were appointed by the court to serve as co-lead counsel on the consolidated class action.
Under Judge Chhabria’s preliminary approval order, the plaintiffs’ lawyers have until June 21 to submit their formal motion for attorneys’ fees.
It is not known how much they will actually request, nor how much the judge may agree to order they be paid.
It is also not yet known how much individual Facebook users may receive from the settlement.
However, in the motion for settlement, the plaintiffs estimated the deal could cover as many as 250 million to 280 million people in the U.S., including everyone who was a Facebook user in the U.S. from May 2007 to December 2022.
To receive a cut of the funds, Facebook users will need to submit a valid claim for review.
The settlement motion does not estimate how many people may be expected to submit valid claims. However, according to data researched by the Federal Trade Commission and others, class action claims rates typically range from 9% to 25%.
If 25% of eligible Americans submit successful claims for a share of the settlement, about 62.5 million people could receive about $9 each from the settlement.
The judge set a deadline of Aug. 25 to submit claims.
Objectors have until July 26 to seek changes to the settlement.
The judge set a hearing for Sept. 7 for final approval of the settlement.
In the settlement motion, plaintiffs’ lawyers trumpeted the settlement as the largest of its kind in history. It eclipses by $75 million a settlement Facebook agreed to pay under a class action brought under Illinois’ biometrics privacy law.
That lawsuit had accused Facebook of improperly scanning the faces of people imaged in photos uploaded to its social media platform, without notice or consent.
However, that settlement generated cash payments of more than $200 per Facebook user, as it was restricted to Facebook users who lived in Illinois.
Attorneys in that case received $97.5 million in fees, or about 15% of the total settlement fund.
Meta and Facebook have been represented in the California consolidated class actions by attorneys Orin Snyder and Deborah Stein, of the firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, of New York and Los Angeles.