Lodestar Was Almost 50,000 Hours At A Blended Hourly Rate Of $1,143, Enhanced By A 2.59 Positive Multiplier.
Rodriguez v. Google, LLC, No. 20-cv-04688-RS (N.D. Cal.) was a class action brought on behalf of 98 million people alleging that Google unlawfully collected user data from non-Google apps even when users disabled the settings, based on invasion of privacy and CDAFA claims. Plaintiffs beat a motion to dismiss, beat a summary judgment motion, obtained certification of a class, and obtained a $425 million jury verdict. Class counsel expended 49,670 hours at a blended $1,143 hourly rate, for a lodestar of close to $56.8 million. U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, in an August 28, 2026 order, awarded class counsel about $146.8 million, a third of the common fund and the lodestar augmented by a positive 2.59 multiplier. He cited the exemplary performance of class counsel, as well as the substantial contingency risks taken on the case. Although observing that each class member will receive less than $5, he did reason that the fees were warranted because individual members would not have been incentivized to pursue such an action on their own given the small payout.