About Whitty

Whitty Somvichian's practice consists of representing clients in complex commercial litigation with a focus on class action matters involving technology, e-commerce, and privacy issues.

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Experience

Defeated Class Certification in Gmail Class Actions With Potential of Damages in the Billions

Defeated Class Certification in Gmail Class Actions With Potential of Damages in the Billions

May 3, 2016

Defended Google in several class actions around the country arising from the automated scanning of email messages in Google's Gmail service. The cases involve novel issues arising from the intersection of modern email technology and the federal and state wiretapping statutes, and the classes proposed in these cases would be among the largest ever, implicating billions of emails exchanged with over 400 million Gmail users. We successfully defeated class certification in all of these cases, leading to settlements in the federal and California actions. We then obtained summary judgment on behalf of Google in the remaining Massachusetts action.

Related contacts

Whitty Somvichian
Partner, San Francisco
Kyle Wong
Partner, San Francisco

Related Practices & Industries

Class Action Litigation

Admissions and credentials

California

Rankings and accolades

Chambers USA: Litigation: General Commercial – California (2022 – 2025)

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