Verizon customer data lawsuits fall into three active or recent tracks: a 2025 class action alleging the carrier still sells browsing history, location data, and app usage to advertisers and brokers; a location-data enforcement fight that ended in June 2026 with the Supreme Court upholding a nearly $47 million FCC fine; and a closed $100 million class action settlement over undisclosed administrative fees on wireless bills. Two separate breaches — one affecting employees, one affecting retail-agent customer records — sit alongside these but involve different claims.
The Pending 2025 Class Action Over Data Selling
The newest case is Taylor v. Verizon Communications Inc., filed February 6, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Plaintiff Susan Taylor alleges that Verizon sold customer browsing history, location data, and app usage to third-party advertisers and data brokers without meaningful consent.1Phone Arena. Verizon Just Got Sued Over Claims of a Massive Privacy Issue
The complaint brings claims for negligence, unjust enrichment, invasion of privacy, and violation of the Federal Wiretap Act. It alleges that Verizon’s privacy policy misleadingly suggests shared data is de-identified or aggregated when it is not, and that customers were not given meaningful opt-out opportunities. Taylor seeks a jury trial, injunctive relief, and compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages on behalf of a proposed nationwide class.2Top Class Actions. Verizon Class Action Alleges Wireless Carrier Sold Customer Data Without Consent
The case is assigned to Judge Colleen McMahon. The most recent docket entry in the available record is dated July 15, 2025, and there is no public indication of a motion to dismiss or a scheduling order.3CourtListener. Taylor v. Verizon Communications Inc., 1:25-cv-01081 No class has been certified, and there is nothing to file a claim for at this stage.
The Location-Data Cases and the 2026 Supreme Court Ruling
The most consequential resolved matter involves Verizon’s sale of real-time location data to third-party aggregators. Investigative reporting in 2018 revealed that major carriers were selling GPS-level access through intermediaries such as LocationSmart and Zumigo, and that the data was reaching bounty hunters and companies like Securus Technologies, which allowed law enforcement to track phones without a warrant.4Vice. Verizon T-Mobile Sprint ATT Class Action Lawsuit Selling Phone Location Data
In May 2019, class actions were filed against Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint alleging violations of Section 222 of the Communications Act, which requires carriers to protect customer proprietary network information. The Verizon suit alone covered an estimated 100 million customers with service between April 2015 and February 2019.4Vice. Verizon T-Mobile Sprint ATT Class Action Lawsuit Selling Phone Location Data In April 2024, the FCC separately fined Verizon over $46 million for failing to reasonably protect location information.5FCC. FCC Fines Verizon 46M Location Data Violations
Verizon challenged the fine on Seventh Amendment grounds, arguing that the FCC’s administrative penalty process denied it a jury trial. The Second Circuit upheld the $46.9 million fine in September 2025, holding that device-location data “plainly qualifies” as customer proprietary network information.6Ars Technica. Court Rejects Verizon Claim That Selling Location Data Without Consent Is Legal
On June 4, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in FCC v. AT&T, Inc. and Verizon Communications, Inc. v. FCC that the FCC’s forfeiture process does not violate the Seventh Amendment. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, reasoning that FCC forfeiture orders are non-self-executing: the agency cannot seize assets or compel payment, and if a carrier refuses to pay, the government must sue in federal district court, where the carrier gets a jury trial. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented alone.7Supreme Court. FCC v. AT&T, Inc., No. 25-4068New York Times. Supreme Court Cellphone Carriers Fines Verizon had already paid under protest.9Ars Technica. ATT and Verizon Lose Supreme Court Case Over Fines for Selling Location Data The ruling leaves the FCC’s administrative enforcement of telecom privacy rules intact.
The $100 Million Administrative-Fee Settlement
The most widely publicized Verizon class action, Esposito et al. v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, was not a data case but a billing case. Filed in New Jersey Superior Court, it alleged that Verizon added an “Administrative Charge” and later an “Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge” to postpaid wireless bills without adequately disclosing them.10De Nittis Law. 100 Million Verizon Class Action Settlement Middlesex County Superior Court granted final approval in March 2024, creating a $100 million fund; Verizon admitted no wrongdoing.11NBC Chicago. Monday Marks Deadline to File Claim in 100M Verizon Class Action Lawsuit
Eligible claimants were current or former individual consumer account holders who paid the disputed charges between January 1, 2016, and November 8, 2023.12Fox Business. Verizon 100M Class Action Settlement How to Submit Your Claim The settlement formula promised a $15 base payment plus $1 per month charged, up to $100.13CNN. Verizon Class Action Settlement Deadline The claim deadline was April 15, 2024, and no extension was granted.14Time. Verizon Settlement Class Action Lawsuit Claim
Payments began January 6, 2025. About 5.2 million class members received funds, but actual amounts came in well below the advertised maximum. After roughly $33.3 million in attorney fees and administrative costs, the remaining fund was divided pro rata, and most claimants received between $4 and $14, with some checks as low as $2.37.15Lawfold. Verizon Class Action Lawsuit Settlement16CBS News. Verizon Administrative Settlement The settlement is closed. If you did not file a claim by April 15, 2024, there is no way to collect from this fund now.
Data Breach Cases: Employees and a Retail Agent
Two Verizon data incidents have produced their own tracks, distinct from the claims about how Verizon uses customer data.
On September 21, 2023, an unauthorized Verizon employee accessed a file containing personal information of 63,206 current employees, including Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, gender, union affiliation, and compensation details. Verizon discovered the breach on December 12, 2023, notified the Maine Attorney General on February 7, 2024, and offered two years of free credit monitoring, saying there was no malicious intent.17ClassAction.org. Verizon Data Breach Lawsuit Says More Than 63K Employees Impacted by Cyberattack18SecurityWeek. Verizon Discloses Internal Data Breach Impacting 63000 Employees Former business account manager Carlos Malacon filed a class action, Malacon v. Verizon Communications Inc., in the Central District of California on February 21, 2024, alleging inadequate security, delayed notification, and insufficient credit monitoring.19Bloomberg Law. Verizon Faces Potential Class Action Over Employee Data Breach This case involves employee data, not customer accounts.
A separate incident affected customer records held by a retail agent. Verizon discovered on September 5, 2024, that an unauthorized party had accessed a retail agent’s server containing customer names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and product purchase information. Notification letters went out October 10, 2024, and Verizon filed a notice with the Montana Attorney General. The victim count has not been publicly disclosed, and no lawsuit had been filed in connection with this breach as of late 2024.18SecurityWeek. Verizon Discloses Internal Data Breach Impacting 63000 Employees
Earlier FCC Actions on Customer Data
The current disputes sit on top of a longer regulatory record. In September 2014, the FCC settled with Verizon for $7.4 million after finding the company had failed since 2006 to send required privacy opt-out notices to about two million customers, then waited 126 days to report the failure. The settlement required opt-out notices on every customer bill and a three-year compliance plan.5FCC. FCC Fines Verizon 46M Location Data Violations
In March 2016, Verizon paid $1.35 million to settle an FCC investigation into its “supercookie” practice, which inserted unique identifier headers into mobile internet traffic to track customers for targeted advertising starting in December 2012, without disclosure until October 2014. An advertising partner was later found using the identifiers to restore cookies users had deleted. The consent decree required opt-in consent before sharing identifiers with third parties.20FCC. FCC Consent Decree, Verizon UIDH Investigation21ProPublica. Verizon to Pay 1.35 Million to Settle Zombie Cookie Privacy Charges
In 2021, Verizon’s “Custom Experience” and “Custom Experience Plus” programs drew criticism for tracking mobile browsing and app usage and for automatically enrolling customers who had previously opted out of the predecessor Verizon Selects program, requiring them to opt out a second time. These programs operate in an environment shaped by a 2017 congressional vote that blocked FCC rules that would have required internet service providers to obtain opt-in consent before collecting or sharing browsing and app-usage history.22Ars Technica. Verizon Ignored Users Previous Opt Outs in Latest Push to Scan Web Browsing The Taylor complaint filed in 2025 challenges practices that grew out of that same regulatory gap.