Gmail Class Action Lawsuit: Verdict, Payments, and Eligibility

The Google class action lawsuit over Web & App Activity tracking, Rodriguez v. Google LLC, resulted in a $425 million jury verdict in September 2025 covering roughly 98 million people. You may be eligible if you used a phone with a Google account between July 1, 2016, and September 23, 2024, and had the Web & App Activity setting turned off or paused while using non-Google apps. No payments are available yet. Google is challenging the judgment, and the deadline to opt out has already passed.

Who Qualifies

Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California certified two nationwide classes. Both cover the same period — July 1, 2016, through September 23, 2024 — and both require the same underlying facts: you had the Web & App Activity or supplemental Web & App Activity setting turned off or paused at some point during that window, and activity from non-Google apps was transmitted to Google through the Firebase Software Development Kit or the Google Mobile Ads SDK.¹

The split between the classes is simply the device:

Class 1 covers Android users.
Class 2 covers iPhone and other non-Android device users.

Some accounts sit outside the main claims. Enterprise accounts managed by an organization and supervised accounts for children under 13 were excluded from the privacy and intrusion claims, though they remained part of the class for the California computer-fraud claim.¹

The opt-out deadline was February 20, 2025. If you did not opt out, you are in the class automatically. There is no claim form to submit at this time.

Status of Payments

The official case website says it plainly: “There is no money or benefits available now.”²

The judgment stands, and with accrued interest it totaled $440,345,685.40 as of March 2, 2026.¹ But Google has signaled it intends to appeal. As of the case website’s last update on May 12, 2026, no formal appeal had been filed, but Google retains the right to file one.² Google has publicly argued the jury misunderstood how its privacy tools work and that users were adequately informed about how data was collected.³

If the judgment survives, class members will be notified and given instructions for submitting a claim. The case administrator is Epiq Global, and the only official website is googlewebappactivitylawsuit.com.²

What the Case Is About

Plaintiffs alleged Google promised that turning off the Web & App Activity setting in a Google account would stop the company from saving data about what people did on their phones. According to the complaint, Google kept collecting that activity anyway, pulling it from non-Google apps such as Uber, Venmo, TikTok, and Instagram through code Google had embedded in those apps.¹ Google argued the data did not identify individual users and that its disclosures explained how Google Analytics worked.⁴

The case was filed on July 14, 2020. Boies Schiller Flexner, Morgan & Morgan, and Susman Godfrey served as class counsel.¹

What the Jury Decided

After a trial lasting roughly three weeks, the jury returned its verdict on September 3, 2025, awarding $425 million in compensatory damages.⁵ The amount broke down as $247 million for the Android class and $178 million for the non-Android class.⁴

The jury found Google liable on two claims: invasion of privacy under the California Constitution and common-law intrusion upon seclusion. It rejected the third claim, a violation of the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. Jurors also declined to award punitive damages, finding Google had not acted with malice.⁶

Plaintiffs had originally asked for $31 billion. Spread across roughly 98 million class members, $425 million works out to about $4 per person before attorneys’ fees and costs.

Post-Verdict Rulings

Both sides pushed back after the verdict. Google asked the court to decertify the class and vacate the judgment, arguing the evidence at trial showed liability depended on individualized proof about each person’s data. Plaintiffs asked for an additional $2.36 billion as disgorgement of profits Google earned from the collected data, plus a permanent injunction.

On January 30, 2026, Judge Seeborg denied both sides. He wrote that Google’s argument rested on a “misapprehension of Plaintiffs’ theory of offensiveness” and that whether Google misrepresented what its privacy settings did was “perfectly susceptible to collective proof.”⁷ He rejected the disgorgement request on the ground that plaintiffs failed to provide a reliable estimate of Google’s profits and that the jury verdict was an adequate legal remedy.⁸ He also denied the injunction, finding plaintiffs had not shown ongoing, irreparable harm.⁹

Attorneys’ Fees and Objection Deadline

Class counsel has asked the court for fees equal to 33% of the judgment including accrued interest, which would come to roughly $147 million. They have also requested $12.4 million in litigation costs and $135,000 in service awards for the three class representatives.¹

If you want to object to the fee request, you have until July 30, 2026, to file a written objection with the court. Fees will not be paid until Google’s challenges to the underlying judgment are resolved.¹

Other Google Privacy Cases You Might Be Thinking Of

Google faces several privacy lawsuits at once. If you saw a headline about a Google payout, it may not be this case.

Taylor v. Google is a $135 million settlement covering U.S. Android users who had a cellular data plan since November 2017. It concerns cellular data transfers, not the Web & App Activity setting. A final approval hearing is scheduled for June 23, 2026.¹⁰
Brown v. Google concerned tracking in Chrome’s Incognito mode. The parties reached a settlement in December 2023 requiring changes to Google’s privacy disclosures; monetary claims by the named plaintiffs went to binding arbitration.¹¹
The Google Assistant Privacy Litigation is a $68 million settlement over allegations that Google Assistant recorded conversations through “false accepts.” The claim deadline is August 27, 2026.¹²
In November 2022, Google paid nearly $392 million to 40 states over location-tracking allegations. In May 2025, Google agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over facial recognition data and location tracking.¹³¹⁴

Watch for Scams

Because no claim process has opened, any message asking you to submit personal information or pay a fee to receive money from this case should be treated as suspicious. The only official source of updates is googlewebappactivitylawsuit.com. Check there before responding to any email, text, or social media post about a Google privacy payout.

1
Official Case Website. Rodriguez v. Google LLC FAQ
2
Official Case Website. Rodriguez v. Google LLC
3
BBC News. Google Ordered to Pay Millions in App Tracking Lawsuit
4
Kiplinger. Google Class Action Lawsuit: Do You Qualify for a Payout
5
Susman Godfrey LLP. Susman Godfrey Secures $425 Million Jury Verdict for Plaintiffs in Privacy Litigation Against Google
6
Courthouse News Service. Jury Slams Google Over App Data Collection to Tune of $425 Million
7
U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. Rodriguez v. Google LLC, Order on Decertification and Disgorgement
8
California Lawyers Association. E-Briefs News and Notes, March 2026
9
KFGO. Google Defeats Bid for Billions of Dollars of New Penalties in US Privacy Class Action
10
ZDNet. Android Users May Be Eligible for Up to $100 in Google Class Action Suit
11
ClassAction.org. Brown v. Google LLC Settlement Agreement
12
Official Case Website. Google Assistant Privacy Litigation Claim Form
13
NPR. Google Will Pay Nearly $392 Million in a Historic Privacy Settlement With 40 States
14
The New York Times. Google Texas Privacy Settlement