Mountain View, California — Two months back, a class-action lawsuit enforced on Google by AdWords advertisers who were billed more than their Daily Budget plan, have been receiving some interesting notices in their inboxes lately from Google, will be awarded up to $20,000 under the terms of a settlement reached this week.
So now it becomes certain that AdWords advertisers are on track to split a $20 million settlement starting September 14th.
The lawsuit originated from charges that Google would sometimes exceed advertisers’ daily budgets by 120% on occasions. Google, while rebutting any wrongdoing, agreed to compensate them with $20 million in a mixture of cash and AdWords credits, and now it is down to the settlement hearing in September to determine exactly what will happen next.
Google said then, “Google believes the claims are without merit, but we are pleased to have the litigation behind us and to move forward with our business objectives.”
Google has denied any wrong doing and it states so in the settlement:
Google refuted all claims of wrongdoing or liability in the Action. The Settlement Agreement is not and shall not be construed or deemed to be evidence or an admission or a concession on the part of Google of any fault or liability or damages whatsoever, and Google does not concede any infirmity in the defenses which it has asserted in the Action.
The $20 million will be paid out as follows:
- To pay the fees, expenses and costs of Representative Plaintiffs’ Counsel as and to the extent allowed by the Court
- To pay an incentive compensation award to each Representative Plaintiff to the extent allowed by the Court; and
- To pay all costs and expenses reasonably incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of tax returns and the payment of taxes on the interest earned on the Settlement Proceeds, including all taxes and tax expenses.
As explained in a settlement notice obtained by Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Land, “The purpose of the Settlement Hearing will be, among other things: (1) to determine whether the proposed Settlement Agreement is fair, reasonable and adequate to the Class and should be approved by the Court . . . and (2) to consider the reasonableness of an application by Representative Plaintiffs’ Counsel for payment of attorney’s fees and reimbursement of costs and expenses incurred in connection with the Action and for incentive compensation award to the Representative Plaintiffs.”
Meanwhile, the lawyers who brought the suit were awarded up to $5 million, plus expenses, for their trouble.
If you are one of those likely recipient, you have already or should soon receive documentation to that effect by mail, with instructions as to how to proceed to collect.
All claims must be filed by July 14, 2009.
Also you can obtain a copy of the settlement as a PDF document for those interested in the extreme legal details.