Google was denied an appeal by the US Supreme Court regarding a lawsuit dating back to 2008 where Google was accused of misleading advertisers about the placements of certain ads. According to the complaint, in addition to ads being pleased next to relevant search results (as is the norm), ads also appeared in places Google didn’t disclose, such as on error pages and underdeveloped websites.
The US supreme court threw out Google’s request for an appeal, which means the class action lawsuit may move forward, representing AdWords customers who paid to advertise through the service in 2004 to 2008.
Due to the fact each advertisers would have to receive different damages, a judge once ruled in 2012 that the lawsuit couldn’t move forward. This decision was reverse by the supreme court, which led to Google seeking that the case be through out by the Supreme Court.
As long as all plaintiffs have similar claims, the case is eligible to be moved forward. This precent was set by the US Supreme Court in 2011 in a case involving Wal Mart and its employees.
Any legal action that ends up being taken against Google remains to be seen, but we will learn more as Google’s case vs. the Supreme Court moves forward.
