LinkedIn class action no windfall for Manitobans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2023 (991 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you’re one of innumerable people in Manitoba with a LinkedIn account, you’ve probably received an email saying you are a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the business-focused social media platform.

It is real, but don’t expect an individual cash windfall from it.

The lawsuit — launched May 20, 2020, by British Columbia resident Robert Andrew Cronk — alleges between July 1, 2011 and May 22, 2023, LinkedIn breached the privacy of users by using their personal information and photos in “dynamic ads,” according to Vancouver-based Hammerco Lawyers LLP.

LinkedIn did not admit any liability, but on May 18, 2023, reached a proposed settlement agreement with Hammerco for $510,000.

Although proceedings began in B.C., the class action has been certified by courts in Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

“If it’s certified in Manitoba, then the settlement is binding in Manitoba, too,” Jennifer Schulz, associate dean at the University of Manitoba faculty of law, said Monday in an email.

Meaning, if the proposed settlement is approved, it will be binding on those members of the class who live in Manitoba as well, she said.

However, on Hammerco’s website regarding the settlement, under the heading “Will I receive compensation from this settlement?” the answer is clear: “No. The settlement agreement provides for cy-près donations to be made to the Law Foundation of British Columbia.”

Up to 35 per cent of the settlement will go to class counsel, an honorarium of up to $1,500 will go to the named plaintiff (Cronk), and the remainder will go to the law foundation.

(A cy-près donation is when money is given to a person or organization to be used as closely as possible to the donor’s intentions when they cannot be precisely followed.)

“People, especially frugal Manitobans, are fine to be part of class actions if they stand to recover financially,” said Schulz, “(In this case,) no Manitobans will receive any money and our provincial law society will not benefit.”

According to its website: “The majority of the Law Foundation of B.C.’s grant budget each year is devoted to the approximately 90 continuing programs it funds. These are programs, located across the province, the foundation funds on an annual, ongoing basis. They provide services in the foundation’s five mandated funding areas: legal education, legal research, legal aid, law reform, and law libraries.”

Nothing on the website is specifically mentions funding consumer protection groups or organizations which work to protect people’s privacy interests.

Questions emailed to the B.C. law foundation were not returned Monday.

Emails were sent to Alexia Majidi and Kevin McLaren, Hammerco LLP lawyers acting as class counsel, asking for interviews. Majidi did not reply; McLaren declined to be interviewed, due to the case being ongoing.

A hearing in the British Columbia Supreme Court to seek approval for the settlement agreement is scheduled for Sept. 7. Any member of the class who wishes to opt out of the lawsuit is free to do so, provided they send in an opt-out form to Hammerco Lawyers LLP prior to Aug. 9.

However, if you eventually discover LinkedIn allegedly breached your privacy sometime between July 1, 2011, and May 22, 2023, could you start an action yourself?

According to the settlement agreement: “Upon the effective date, each releasor (plaintiff) will be forever barred and enjoined from continuing, commencing, instituting, maintaining, asserting or prosecuting, either directly or indirectly, whether in Canada or elsewhere… any action, suit, cause of action, claim, litigation… or other proceeding… against any releasee (LinkedIn).”

Instructions on how to opt out of the lawsuit, as well as copies of court documents related to the case, can be accessed on Hammerco’s website.

graham.mcdonald@freepress.mb.ca