A $95 million settlement to end a class action against Apple for allegedly allowing its Siri AI to listen to phone users' conversations when it wasn't supposed to be activated has won a preliminary green light from a California federal judge.
Under the deal, Apple customers could be eligible to receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device they have used since 2014, capped at five devices per claimant. However, actual payouts will depend on how many people ultimately submit claims for a share of the settlement.
Attorneys who led the lawsuit, however, could be set to receive as much as $28.5 million in fees, or 30% of the settlement funds.
Christian Levis
| Lowey Dannenberg
On Feb. 10, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White granted preliminary approval to the agreement to end the five-year-old class action litigation against Apple.
The approval comes less than a month and half since Apple and the lawyers leading the class action announced the deal on New Year's Eve.
The settlement would resolve the lawsuit brought against Apple in 2019 in Oakland federal court.
The lawsuit has been led by attorneys from the firms of Lowey Dannenberg P.C., of White Plains, New York; Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law, of New York; Lexington Law Group, of San Francisco; and Wood Law Firm, of Birmingham, Alabama.
The lawsuit centered claims that Apple devices equipped with the company's Siri A.I. (artificial intelligence) virtual assistant was improperly recording customers' phone calls and other interactions.
According to the complaint, customers believed, based on Apple marketing and directions, that Siri would only be activated when a user summoned it or "triggered" it, by saying "Hey, Siri" - the so-called "hot word" - followed by a command or query.
However, according to the complaint, Siri was actually surreptitiously activating itself when not commanded to do so, resulting in the alleged improper recordings.
Siri has been installed on Apple devices, such as iPhones, Apple Watches and iPads, since 2011.
The complaint further accused Apple of then sharing those recorded conversations with contractors, purportedly to analyze to help improve Siri.
The plaintiffs asserted this alleged misbehavior by Apple and its Siri product amounts to violations of federal wiretapping law and California's state privacy law, among other statutes.
Apple initially won dismissal of the lawsuit in 2021, when the judge agreed the plaintiffs hadn't established Apple had, in fact, improperly intercepted and disclosed recorded customer conversations and interactions.
The plaintiffs amended their complaint soon after, however, and this time, the lawsuit largely survived another attempt by Apple in the fall of 2021 to power it down.
The lawsuit then continued in court since, with most proceedings centered on arguments over the level of disclosure of Siri data Apple should be required to provide and plaintiffs' assertions that Apple had "spoiled" some of the evidence they believed they needed to establish their case.
Ultimately, the parties entered into settlement talks, which continued for months, until they filed a motion on Dec. 31, 2024, announcing their settlement.
The deal could include funds to make payments to a class of plaintiffs that could include anyone who used a Siri-equipped device since September 2017 and who attest under oath that Siri had unexpectedly activated on their device when no had called for it.
The settlement would provide a prorated share of the settlement to successful eligible claimants, capped at $20 per eligible device, up to five devices. So, at most, successful claimants could secure $100 from the deal.
However, the actual amount that claimants could receive will be determined by how many people submit successful claims.
According to the settlement, potential claimants will have until June 25 to submit claims.
The settlement notes the plaintiffs' settlement class could include millions of potential claimants.
In the motion for settlement, the plaintiffs' attorneys said they intend to ask the court to award them 30% of the settlement funds, or about $28.5 million in fees.
A formal motion requesting those attorney fees is due shortly before the judge considers final approval of the settlement on Aug. 1.
Apple has been represented by attorney Isabelle L. Ord and others with the firm of DLA Piper LLP (US), of San Francisco.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs included Christian Levis, Vincent Briganti, Margaret MacLean and Andrea Farah, with Lowey Dannenberg; Erin Green Comite and Joseph P. Guglielmo, of Scott+Scott; Mark N. Todzo and Patrick Carey, of Lexington Law Group; and E. Kirk Wood, of Wood Law Firm.