• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, October 9, 2014

A federal judge has granted final approval to comScore's $14 million settlement of a privacy class-action lawsuit.

The order, quietly signed last week by U.S. District Court Judge James Holderman in the Northern District of Illinois, resolves a 2011 lawsuit brought by panel members Jeff Dunstan and Mike Harris. They alleged that they installed comScore's software after downloading a free product, but didn't realize that the online measurement company would collect usernames and passwords, search queries and credit card numbers, among other data.

comScore will pay an estimated 16,000 panelists between $500 and $700. Any checks that aren't cashed within 90 days will go into a fund, which will be distributed to the Center for Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University Law Center, and the Stanford University Security Laboratory.

Holderman wrote in the approval order that the monetary settlement was “reasonable, and in the best interests of the settlement class members.”

The judge said his finding was based on several factors, including “the strength of plaintiffs’ case compared to the amount of defendants’ settlement offer,” and “an assessment of the likely complexity, length and expense of the litigation.”
Holderman also awarded Dunstan and Harris $11,000 each. The lawyers who represented consumers were awarded more than $4.6 million in attorneys' fees -- an amount the judge said was “fair and reasonable as the market price for legal services.”

Court papers filed earlier in the case indicated that settlement talks grew more serious last year, shortly after Holderman granted the consumers class-action status. comScore unsuccessfully attempted to appeal that ruling to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The company's effort was backed by a coalition of trade groups, including the Direct Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Those trade groups argued that privacy lawsuits against Web companies could hinder online commerce. “This case and others like it implicate foundational internet communication and commerce technology,” they said at the time.