$1 Million Sanction Award Against Google
Denial of Discovery to Oppose Motion for Summary Judgment
July 16, 2022“Sandy Hook lawyers say Alex Jones’s attorneys accidentally gave them his phone contents”
August 4, 2022A $971,715.09 sanction was imposed by The Hon. Susan Van Keulen in Brown v. Google, No. 20-cv-03664-YGR, Dkt. No. 631 (N.D. Ca. July 15, 2022). “The Court has already determined that the appropriate measure of the monetary sanction for Google’s discovery misconduct is the attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in bringing the sanctions motion, which is to be paid by Google to Plaintiffs.”
“The case filed in 2020 alleges Google tracked users browsing history and other web activity even when they used ‘private browsing mode.’” Roy Strom, Google Ordered to Pick Up Boies Legal Fees at $2,000 an Hour (4) (bloomberglaw.com) (July 15, 2022).
Boies Schiller had requested over $1 million:
“Google failed to comply with its discovery obligations, misled the plaintiffs and the Court, concealed the identities of key personnel, and concealed, and then destroyed, key documents,” Boies said in a statement to Bloomberg Law. “The sanctions are serious, as they should be, given Google’s serious misconduct.”
Id.
Google’s lawyers said: “At the end of the day, they are getting a partial payment of their inflated bill for the time they devoted to bringing the motion….” Id.
