MARSHALL, Texas, July 30,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- McKool Smith, along with
Keller Postman and Attorney General Ken
Paxton, secured a massive $1.4
Billion settlement on behalf of the State of Texas against Meta
Platforms/Facebook. The record-breaking settlement was announced on
July 30, 2024 by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. It is the largest settlement ever
obtained from an action brought by a single State.
The case was scheduled to be tried to a jury in June, but the
parties agreed to settle the dispute on the eve of trial and asked
the court to pause the proceeding to finalize the settlement
terms.
The suit alleged that Facebook unlawfully captured
the biometric identifiers of Texans for a commercial purpose
without their informed consent, disclosed those identifiers to
others, and failed to destroy collected identifiers within a
reasonable time. Facebook's activities included capturing biometric
information billions of times from photos and videos that millions
of Facebook users in Texas
uploaded to the social media platform. The suit further
alleged that Meta misrepresented whether and how it
was using biometric identifiers. Along with the Office of the
Attorney General for the State of
Texas, McKool Smith and Keller Postman claimed that Facebook
has, for over a decade, built an Artificial Intelligence empire
while capturing the most intimate data of Texans, thereby putting
their well-being, safety, and security at risk.
"Companies that operate in Texas must be held accountable for their
actions, particularly when it puts the privacy of Texans at risk.
We're grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the Office
of the Attorney General, and we appreciate how the court handled
this lawsuit. Cases this size typically move at a glacial speed,
but the Marshall, Texas court was
expeditious, fair, and impartial. We also want to thank Attorney
General Ken Paxton and First
Assistant Attorney General Brent
Webster for including McKool Smith on the litigation team,
leading the enforcement action, and driving us to a historic
settlement number at mediation," said lead counsel Sam Baxter and Jennifer
Truelove from McKool Smith.
Attorney General Paxton said, "After vigorously pursuing justice
for our citizens whose privacy rights were violated by Meta's use
of facial recognition software, I'm proud to announce that we have
reached the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought
by a single State. This historic settlement demonstrates our
commitment to standing up to the world's biggest technology
companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and
violating Texans' privacy rights. Any entity abusing Texans'
sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law."
Along with Ms. Truelove and Mr. Baxter, the McKool Smith trial
team included firm Principals John
Briody, Kevin Burgess,
Charles Fowler, Rick Halper, Eric
Hansen, Lew LeClair,
Radu Lelutiu, and Robert Manley; and Associates Asena Baran, Caroline
Burks, Michael Catapano,
Joseph Micheli, Taylor Perez, Carra
Rentie, and Lauren
Simenauer.
The case is State of Texas
v. Meta Platforms, Inc., f/k/a Facebook, Inc., case no.
22-0121, 71st Judicial District Court for Harrison County, Texas.
With more than 130 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los
Angeles, Marshall, New
York, and Washington, D.C.,
McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America's
leading trial firms. The firm has secured 16 nine-figure jury
verdicts and 16 eight-figure jury verdicts, obtaining
more VerdictSearch and The National Law
Journal "Top 100 Verdicts" than any other law firm. These
courtroom successes have earned McKool Smith critical acclaim and
helped the firm become what The Wall Street
Journal describes as "one of the biggest law firm success
stories of the past decade." McKool Smith represents clients in
complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy,
insurance recovery, and white collar defense matters.
For more information, please contact Keith Hill at (903) 923.9005 or
email khill@mckoolsmith.com.
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