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Coinbase to Face Narrowed Shareholder Lawsuit After Judge’s Partial Dismissal

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A U.S. federal judge has ruled that Coinbase must face a narrowed shareholder lawsuit alleging it misled investors about key business risks, including the likelihood of being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a 59-page ruling issued Tuesday night, Judge Brian Martinotti of the U.S. District Court in New Jersey rejected Coinbase’s bid for a full dismissal of the case. The lawsuit accuses the cryptocurrency exchange and several of its top executives and board members of fraudulently concealing regulatory and financial risks in public statements over a two-year period.

The shareholders allege Coinbase made misleading claims suggesting it was unlikely to face SEC enforcement, and that customer assets would remain protected even if the company filed for bankruptcy. These statements, made through earnings calls, regulatory filings, blog posts, and social media, allegedly inflated investor confidence.

Judge Martinotti ruled that plaintiffs could not proceed based solely on “group pleading”, where statements in company-wide documents do not specify individual responsibility. However, he allowed the lawsuit to continue for claims where investors provided specific allegations tied to individual defendants, writing, “Where plaintiffs have appropriately provided defendant-by-defendant particularity, the claims must remain.”

In a notable aside, Martinotti criticized the lack of clarity in the plaintiffs’ filings, remarking humorously, “Judges are not like pigs, hunting for truffles buried in briefs.”

Coinbase called the ruling a “significant step forward,” saying it would continue to “vigorously defend against any remaining claims.” Attorneys representing the shareholders did not immediately respond to media requests.

The case stems from major stock drops in 2022 and 2023, including a 26% plunge on May 11, 2022 after Coinbase reported disappointing revenues and added new risk disclosures, and a 12% drop on June 6, 2023 following the SEC lawsuit alleging the company operated as an unregistered securities exchange.

The class action, led by Swedish pension fund Sjunde AP-Fonden, covers investors who bought Coinbase shares between April 14, 2021, and June 5, 2023.

The SEC’s own case against Coinbase was dropped in February 2025, after the Trump administration moved to loosen federal oversight of the cryptocurrency sector, marking a major shift in the U.S. regulatory approach to digital assets.

The case is In re Coinbase Global Inc. Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 22-04915.

Google Ordered to Pay $314 Million in California Cellular Data Class Action Verdict

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A jury in San Jose, California, has ruled that Google misused Android smartphone users’ cellular data without their permission, awarding over $314.6 million in damages to an estimated 14 million affected Californians. The verdict, delivered on Tuesday, found that Google collected and transmitted data from idle Android devices for its own benefit, imposing “mandatory and unavoidable burdens” on users.

The class action lawsuit, filed in 2019, argued that Google’s unauthorized data use served corporate purposes like targeted advertising while consuming users’ cellular data at their expense. Google denied wrongdoing, maintaining that users consented to data use via its terms of service and privacy policies, and claimed no harm was caused.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda stated the company plans to appeal, arguing the verdict “misunderstands services that are critical to the security, performance, and reliability of Android devices.” Plaintiffs’ attorney Glen Summers praised the decision, calling it a strong vindication of the case’s merits and highlighting the seriousness of Google’s misconduct.

Separately, a similar federal lawsuit covering Android users outside California is set for trial in April 2026 in San Jose.

Judge Rejects Class Action Lawsuit Over Google Chrome Privacy Claims

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A U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday that people alleging Google illegally collected their personal data from Google Chrome browsers without syncing with Google accounts cannot proceed with a class action lawsuit against Alphabet’s unit.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, agreed with Google that claims should be handled individually to determine if millions of Chrome users understood and consented to the company’s data collection policies.

“Inquiries relating to Google’s implied consent defense will overwhelm the damages claims for all causes of action,” the judge wrote. She dismissed the proposed damages class action with prejudice, barring it from being filed again. Additionally, Chrome users were denied the ability to seek policy changes as a group.

Google’s Vice President of Litigation, Sandi Knight, said the company appreciated the decision and noted that Chrome Sync includes clear privacy controls. Plaintiffs’ lawyer David Straite declined to comment.

The ruling follows a 2024 federal appeals court decision instructing Judge Rogers to assess whether reasonable Chrome users consented to Google collecting their data during browsing. Plaintiffs argued that Chrome’s privacy notice misled users by stating they “don’t need to provide any personal information to use Chrome” and that Google would only collect data if users enabled the sync feature.

Judge Rogers had previously dismissed the case in December 2022 but continues to oversee two other privacy lawsuits against Google with different claims. The appeals court decision came after Google agreed in 2023 to destroy billions of data records to settle a lawsuit related to tracking users in Incognito mode.

Case: Calhoun et al v Google LLC, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-16993.