Google escapes Play Store class action after finding more persuasive expert

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A US district judge has reversed course, revoking a 2022 class-action status order for 21 million Google Play Store customers who alleged that Google “artificially inflated” prices for Android apps that could have been downloaded cheaper outside the Play Store.

Yesterday, Judge James Donato ordered the class action canceled after he said that new evidence showed that key expert testimony that plaintiffs relied on to claim that prices were inflated was "based on assumptions about the Play Store apps that are not supported by the evidence.”

Because the expert testimony—which came from antitrust expert Hal J. Singer—failed a reliability test, it must be excluded, Donato said. Now it seems likely that plaintiffs may have to "dramatically reduce potential damages" in the case, which Singer had previously estimated could amount to billions, Bloomberg reported.