Bartlit Beck Secures $314 Million Verdict in Landmark Class Action Against Google
Bartlit Beck and co-counsel Korein Tillery secured a major trial victory in a class action on behalf of more than 14 million California Android users. The team argued and a jury agreed that Google’s Android operating system was designed to secretly transmit a wide range of information about users to Google servers without notice or consent, even when users were not on Wi-Fi, thereby consuming their cellular data.
This precedent-setting win came after nearly four weeks of live courtroom proceedings, expert testimony, and vigorous legal argument over issues at the intersection of privacy, property law, and mobile technology, in which the jury awarded the Plaintiffs $314,626,932 in damages.
Bartlit Beck partners Karma Giulianelli and Glen Summers led the trial team, along with Hamilton Hill, Lindley Brenza, Benjamin Montague, and Jacob Marsh.
This appears to be the first time a jury has found that unauthorized consumption of cellular data by a tech company constitutes “conversion”—a legal theory typically reserved for theft or misuse of tangible property. The win sets a powerful precedent in the emerging area of data-as-property law and could open the door to a wave of class actions challenging covert data practices.
Tech companies operating in California—a jurisdiction known for its strong privacy and consumer protection laws—will be under new scrutiny as a result. Bartlit Beck and Korein Tillery are scheduled to represent a class of nation-wide Android users in a separate trial scheduled for April 2026. The damages in that case are expected to be an order of magnitude greater.
Related Media Coverage:
Why Has Google Been Ordered to Pay Android Users US$314.6m? (Technology Magazine)
Google hit with $314 million US verdict in cellular data class action (Reuters)
Google Hit With $314M Verdict In Android Data Use Suit (Law360)
Google takes a gamble in class action jury trial over cell phone data use (Reuters)
Google Going to Trial After Doing Something Super Sketchy to Android Users (Futurism)