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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN JOSE DIVISION

IN RE: YAHOO! INC. CUSTOMER 

DATA SECURITY BREACH 

LITIGATION

Case No. 16-MD-02752-LHK 

AMENDED1 ORDER DENYING 

MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY 

APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION 

SETTLEMENT

Re: Dkt. No. 330

Plaintiffs Kimberly Heines, Hashmatullah Essar, Paul Dugas, Matthew Ridolfo, Deana 

Ridolfo, Yaniv Rivlin, Mali Granot, Brian Neff, and Andrew Mortensen (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) 

bring a putative class action against Defendant Yahoo! Inc. (“Yahoo”). Plaintiff Brian Neff also 

brings a putative class action against Defendant Aabaco Small Business, LLC (“Aabaco”) 

(collectively with Yahoo, “Defendants”). Before the Court is Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary 

approval of class action settlement. ECF No. 330 (“Mot.”). Having considered the parties’

motion and supplemental filings, arguments of counsel at the November 29, 2018 hearing, the 

 

1 This order supersedes ECF No. 353, which is hereby vacated. Page 14 now states that the Court 

authorized five attorneys, who are not members of Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, to attend and 

help prepare their respective clients for depositions.
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relevant law, and the record in this Case, the Court DENIES Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary 

approval of class action settlement.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

The instant lawsuit involves three data breaches that occurred from 2013 to 2016. 

According to Plaintiffs, Defendants did not use appropriate safeguards to protect users’ personal 

identification information (“PII”), and Plaintiffs’ PII was thus exposed to hackers who infiltrated 

Defendants’ systems. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege three separate data breaches: a breach that 

occurred in 2013, a breach that occurred in 2014, and a breach that occurred in 2015-2016

(collectively, “data breaches”). ECF No. 196, ¶ 161. Moreover, Plaintiffs allege that Yahoo 

“made a conscious and deliberate decision not to alert any of Yahoo’s customers that their PII had 

been stolen.” Id., ¶ 9.

On July 23, 2016, before Yahoo publicly disclosed the 2013, 2014, or 2015-2016 data 

breaches, Yahoo and Verizon entered a stock purchase agreement under which Verizon would 

acquire Yahoo’s operating business. Yahoo, Stock Purchase Agreement (July 23, 2016). 

Plaintiffs allege that in August 2016 a hacker posted information from 200 million Yahoo 

accounts for sale on the dark web. ECF No. 196, ¶ 122. Plaintiffs allege that at least as early as 

August 2016, multiple copies of Yahoo’s database were sold by hackers in Eastern Europe. Id., ¶ 

123. At the motion for preliminary approval hearing, Plaintiffs stated that the entire user database 

was available for sale on the dark web in 2016, and that Yahoo purchased it using bitcoin. ECF 

No. 351 at 46. Yahoo acknowledged that Yahoo had purchased the data from the dark web, but 

disputed that the data had been sold multiple times. Id. at 46-47.

On September 9, 2016, in an SEC filing regarding the Verizon purchase agreement, Yahoo 

represented that Yahoo knew of no incidents of unauthorized access of personal data that might 

adversely affect the acquisition. Yahoo, Preliminary Proxy Statement (Schedule 14(A), at Exhibit 

A-18 (Sept. 9, 2016), available at https://www.altaba.com/static-files/ad5f11da-0a78-4f3e-90f8-
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dd204c1978fb.

Thirteen days later, on September 22, 2016, Yahoo publicly disclosed the 2014 data 

breach. ECF No. 196, ¶ 126. In the announcement, Yahoo claimed that it learned of the 2014 

data breach during a “recent investigation.” Yahoo Security Notice September 22, 2016, available 

at https://help.yahoo.com/kb/%20SLN28092.html. However, Plaintiffs allege that Yahoo’s 

information security team and legal department both knew about the 2014 data breach as it was 

happening. ECF No. 196, ¶ 104. As discussed below, Yahoo itself conceded in its 10-K filing 

with the SEC about six months later, on March 1, 2017, that Yahoo had contemporaneous 

knowledge of the 2014 data breach. ECF No. 196, ¶ 129; Yahoo, 2016 Annual Report (Form 10-

K), at 47 (Mar. 1, 2017). 

On November 9, 2016, Yahoo disclosed the 2015-2016 data breach in an SEC filing. ECF 

No. 196, ¶ 139. Plaintiffs do not appear to allege when Yahoo first knew about the 2015-2016 

data breach, but Plaintiffs allege that hackers used data obtained during the 2014 data breach to 

gain access to specific user accounts in the 2015-2016 data breach. Id., ¶ 119.

On December 14, 2016, Yahoo publicly disclosed the 2013 data breach and stated that this 

data breach affected more than one billion user accounts. Id., ¶ 133. Plaintiffs’ state that “Yahoo 

claims to have been totally unaware of this breach until being notified by law enforcement in 

2016. . . . Yahoo [] claim[s] that in 2013 its data security measures and breach detection measures 

were so poor that hackers were able to access every single Yahoo account . . . and exfiltrate users’ 

PII, and Yahoo never detected it.” Id., ¶ 11, 12. Plaintiffs allege that Yahoo “had drafted 

notifications pertaining to the [2015-2016] breach as early as December 15, 2016, but delayed in 

sending them to affected users.” Id., ¶ 141. Yahoo began publicly notifying users of the 2015-

2016 data breach in February 2017. Id., ¶ 142.

As a result of the data breach disclosures, Plaintiffs allege that Verizon demanded a $925 

million discount on the purchase price of Yahoo. Id., ¶ 138. On February 21, 2017, Verizon and 

Yahoo announced that they had agreed on a $350 million price reduction and an adjustment 
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regarding the parties’ respective shares of liability and litigation costs. Press Release, Verizon, 

Verizon and Yahoo Amend Terms of Definitive Agreement (Feb. 21, 2017), available at

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verizon-and-yahoo-amend-terms-of-definitiveagreement-300410420.html.

Although Yahoo had publicly claimed on September 22, 2016 that Yahoo had learned of 

the 2014 data breach during a “recent investigation,” Yahoo Security Notice September 22, 2016, 

available at https://help.yahoo.com/kb/%20SLN28092.html, Yahoo admitted on March 1, 2017 in 

its 10-K filing with the SEC that Yahoo had “contemporaneous knowledge” of the 2014 data 

breach. ECF No. 196, ¶ 129; Yahoo, 2016 Annual Report (Form 10-K), at 47 (Mar. 1, 2017). 

Although on December 14, 2016, Yahoo had claimed that the 2013 data breach affected 

only one billion user accounts, Yahoo disclosed on October 3, 2017 that the 2013 data breach 

affected approximately 3 billion user accounts—every user account then existing. Id., ¶ 145-46.

In addition to the instant class action lawsuit, Yahoo has settled several other actions 

arising out of the data breaches. On April 24, 2018, Yahoo settled for $35 million claims brought 

against it by the SEC alleging that Yahoo misled investors by failing to disclose the data breaches. 

Press Release, SEC, Altaba, Formerly Known as Yahoo!, Charged with Failing to Disclose 

Massive Cybersecurity Breach; Agrees to Pay $35 Million (April 24, 2018), available at

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-71. 

On September 7, 2018, this Court granted final approval to Yahoo’s $80 million settlement 

of a federal securities class action related to Yahoo’s failure to disclose the 2013, 2014, and 2015-

2016 data breaches. In re Yahoo! Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 17-CV-00373-LHK, ECF No. 

118. 

On January 9, 2019, the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara granted 

final approval to Yahoo’s $29 million settlement of shareholder derivative class actions. See Case 

No. 17-CV-00787-LHK, ECF No. 41-2. This settlement pertained to pending shareholder 

derivative class actions in California State Court, Delaware State Court, and this Court. See Case 
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No. 17-CV-00787-LHK, ECF No. 41.

In addition to the 2013, 2014, and 2015-2016 data breaches discussed above, Plaintiffs’ 

expert Mary Frantz submitted a 92-page report regarding Yahoo’s data security. ECF No. 252-17. 

The report shows repeated failures to follow industry-standard security practices, extensive 

knowledge of ongoing security breaches beginning in 2008 with failure to adequately respond, 

failure to provide adequate staffing and training, and failure to comply with industry standard 

regulations. The report shows that the first full-scale breach of the user database was the 2013 

breach. However, several incidents prior to 2013 appear to have involved several million 

accounts, as well as access to Yahoo’s internal systems. At a minimum, the report concludes that 

Yahoo was on notice of significant security lapses several years prior to the 2013 data breach. 

Nonetheless, at the motion for preliminary approval hearing Yahoo stated that it continues to deny 

any data breach prior to 2013, and it has not notified users of any data breach prior to 2013. ECF 

No. 351 at 18-19.

B. Procedural History

On September 22, 2016, the same day that Yahoo first disclosed any of the data breaches

that are the subject of this case, the first federal actions that became part of the instant Multidistrict 

Litigation (“MDL”) were filed. See, e.g., Complaint, Havron v. Yahoo, No. 16-cv-01075 (S.D. Ill. 

Sept. 22, 2016), assigned Case No. 16-cv-07031-LHK. On December 7, 2016, the Judicial Panel 

on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) issued a transfer order selecting the undersigned judge as the 

transferee court for the instant MDL action. See ECF No. 1 at 1. Additional lawsuits were filed 

and related or transferred to the undersigned judge. ECF Nos. 6, 7, 9, 30, 33, 40, 64.

On April 12, 2017, Plaintiffs filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint (“CAC”)

covering all three data breaches. ECF No. 80. In the CAC, Plaintiffs asserted claims on behalf of 

Yahoo users in the United States, Israel, Venezuela, Australia, and Spain. ECF No. 80 at 5-12. 

On May 22, 2017, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the CAC. ECF No. 94. On August 30, 

2017, the Court granted in part and denied in part the motion to dismiss the CAC. ECF No. 132. 
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The Court dismissed the Australia, Venezuela, and Spain Plaintiffs. ECF No. 132 at 88.

After this Court had issued its ruling on the motion to dismiss the CAC, Yahoo disclosed 

that the 2013 data breach affected an additional two billion Yahoo user accounts. As a result, the 

Court gave Plaintiffs time to conduct discovery and to amend their complaint. ECF No. 147. The 

Court ordered Yahoo to “expedite its production of discovery regarding the recent data breach 

disclosure.” ECF No. 142. Plaintiffs filed the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) on December 

15, 2017. ECF No. 174, 196. 

On January 19, 2018, Defendants filed the motion to dismiss the FAC. ECF No. 205. On 

March 9, 2018, the Court granted in part and denied in part the motion to dismiss the FAC. ECF 

No. 215. 

On July 13, 2018, Plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification. ECF No. 246. On 

September 1, 2018, Defendants filed their opposition to the motion for class certification. ECF 

No. 295.

Separate from the instant case, parallel proceedings against Yahoo have been ongoing in 

California state court. Yahoo! Inc. Private Information Disclosure Cases, Judicial Council 

Coordination Proceeding No. 4895 (“JCCP case”). Seven class action lawsuits were filed against 

Yahoo in California state court. ECF No. 330-17, ¶ 14. As with the federal cases in the instant 

MDL, the first of the California state lawsuits was filed on September 22, 2016. Id., ¶ 14. On 

February 15, 2017, Judge Thierry Patrick Colaw of the Superior Court of California, County of 

Orange, granted the petition for coordination of the seven California lawsuits and recommended 

such coordination to the Judicial Council of California. ECF No. 330-19 at 2. On February 28, 

2017, the Judicial Council of California authorized the Presiding Judge of the Orange County 

Superior Court to assign the lawsuits to a coordination trial judge. ECF No. 330-17, ¶ 16. On 

March 14, 2017, the Presiding Judge of the Orange County Superior Court assigned the JCCP case 

to Judge Colaw. ECF No. 330-20 at 2.

On June 23, 2017, Judge Colaw denied Yahoo’s motion to stay the JCCP case. ECF No. 
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330-22. On June 27, 2017, Plaintiffs in the JCCP case filed a consolidated class action complaint. 

ECF No. 330-23. On December 13, 2017, Judge Colaw granted in part and denied in part Yahoo’s 

demurrer. ECF No. 330-24. On August 27, 2018, Plaintiffs in the JCCP case filed a motion for 

class certification. ECF No. 330-17, ¶ 30.

The complaint in the JCCP case alleged violations of California’s Consumers Legal 

Remedies Act, Unfair Competition Law, Customer Records Act, common law claims for 

negligence and breach of contract, and an invasion of privacy claim under the California 

Constitution and common law. ECF No. 330-23. Except for the invasion of privacy claim, all the 

California state law claims in the JCCP complaint were also asserted in the instant MDL case.

Plaintiffs in the instant MDL case and in the JCCP case jointly engaged in settlement 

discussions with Yahoo. ECF No. 330-17, ¶ 31. As part of the settlement negotiations, the parties 

agreed to seek approval of the class action settlement before the undersigned judge. ECF No. 330-

17, ¶ 32. On September 14, 2018, the parties informed this Court that they had reached a 

settlement in principle and requested that the Court stay the matter in its entirety. ECF No. 322. 

On September 17, 2018, the Court denied the requested stay. ECF No. 323. On September 18, 

2018, the Court stayed the deadlines related to the motion for class certification. ECF No. 325.

Following Judge Colaw’s retirement in January 2018, the JCCP case was re-assigned to 

Judge Glenda Sanders. ECF No. 330-17 at 5, n.1. On September 19, 2018, during a status 

conference in the JCCP case, Judge Sanders approved the parties’ proposed settlement process and 

set a further status conference on March 19, 2019, in order to give the Court in the instant case 

time to reach a final disposition on the proposed settlement. ECF No. 330-25. The parties in the 

JCCP case agreed that they anticipated requesting dismissal of the JCCP case if this Court 

approved the settlement. Id. at 4.

On October 22, 2018, Plaintiffs in the instant case filed a motion for preliminary approval 

of class action settlement. ECF No. 330. The settlement agreement applies to this case as well as 

to the JCCP case. ECF No. 330-3 at 1. On November 2, 2018, this Court ordered the parties to 
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provide supplemental information to support the Motion for Preliminary Approval. ECF No. 333. 

On November 5, 2018, the Court ordered the parties to provide additional supplemental 

information. ECF No. 335. The parties filed their supplemental statement on November 9, 2018. 

ECF No. 337. The Court held a hearing on November 29, 2018.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e) provides that “[t]he claims, issues, or defenses of a 

certified class may be settled . . . only with the court’s approval.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e). “The 

purpose of Rule 23(e) is to protect the unnamed members of the class from unjust or unfair 

settlements affecting their rights.” In re Syncor ERISA Litig., 516 F.3d 1095, 1100 (9th Cir. 

2008). Accordingly, in order to approve a class action settlement under Rule 23, a district court 

must conclude that the settlement is “fundamentally fair, adequate, and reasonable.” Hanlon v. 

Chrysler Corp., 150 F.3d 1011, 1026 (9th Cir. 1998). Preliminary approval of a settlement and 

notice to the class is appropriate if “[1] the proposed settlement appears to be the product of 

serious, informed, non-collusive negotiations, [2] has no obvious deficiencies, [3] does not 

improperly grant preferential treatment to class representatives or segments of the class, and [4] 

falls within the range of possible approval.” In re Tableware Antitrust Litig., 484 F. Supp. 2d 

1078, 1079 (N.D. Cal. 2007) (citing Manual for Complex Litigation (Second) § 30.44); see also In 

re High-Tech Emp. Antitrust Litig., No. 11-CV-02509-LHK, 2014 WL 3917126, at *3 (N.D. Cal. 

Aug. 8, 2014).

III. DISCUSSION

The Court denies the motion for preliminary approval of class action settlement on several 

bases. First, the settlement inadequately discloses the release of claims related to any 

unauthorized access of data in 2012. Second, the release of the 2012 claims is improper. Third, 

the proposed notice inadequately discloses the size of the settlement fund. Fourth, the settlement 

appears likely to result in an improper reverter of attorneys’ fees. Fifth, the settlement 

inadequately discloses the scope of non-monetary relief. Sixth, the settlement inadequately 
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discloses the size of the settlement class. Any of these bases would be sufficient to deny the 

motion for preliminary approval. The Court concludes its discussion with a comparison of this 

settlement with the settlement in In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litig., 327 F.R.D. 299 (2018).

A. Legal Standard Regarding Inadequate Disclosures

Due process requires adequate notice before the claims of absent class members are 

released. In re Online DVD-Rental Antitrust Litig., 779 F.3d 934, 946 (9th Cir. 2015). Notice 

must be written in “plain, easily understood language” and “generally describe[] the terms of the 

settlement in sufficient detail to alert those with adverse viewpoints to investigate and to come 

forward and be heard.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(2)(B); Churchill Vill., L.L.C. v. Gen. Elec., 361 F.3d 

566, 575 (9th Cir. 2004) (citation omitted). Notice is inadequate if it misleads potential class 

members. Molski v. Gleich, 318 F.3d 937, 952 (9th Cir. 2003), overruled on other grounds by 

Dukes v. Wal–Mart Stores, Inc., 603 F.3d 571 (9th Cir.2010).

“A district court’s approval of a class-action settlement must be accompanied by a finding 

that the settlement is ‘fair, reasonable, and adequate.’” Lane v. Facebook, Inc., 696 F.3d 811, 818 

(9th Cir. 2012) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e)). The Ninth Circuit has listed several factors that 

the district court should consider in determining whether a settlement is fair, reasonable, and 

adequate, including inter alia, the strength of the plaintiffs’ case; the risk of maintaining class 

action status throughout the trial; and the amount offered in settlement. See Hanlon, 150 F.3d at 

1026. “[S]ettlement approval that takes place prior to formal class certification requires a higher 

standard of fairness.” Id.

B. Release of 2012 Claims

1. Inadequate Disclosures

The proposed notice to class members fails to provide reasonable notice that the settlement 

agreement releases claims arising from any unauthorized access of data in 2012. See In re Online 

DVD-Rental Antitrust Litig., 779 F.3d at 946 (explaining that due process requires notice prior to 

releasing claims of absent class members). The proposed notice explains that the settlement 
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relates only to the 2013, 2014, and 2015-2016 data breaches. ECF No. 330-8 at 8. The proposed 

notice fails to disclose that claims related to any unauthorized access of data in 2012 are also being 

released even though the settlement releases such claims. Id.

The Court appreciates the parties’ effort to provide relief for any unauthorized access of 

data in 2012. Such relief appears appropriate in light of Plaintiffs’ expert Mary Frantz’s 92-page 

report regarding Yahoo’s data security. ECF No. 252-17. The report shows repeated failures to 

follow industry-standard security practices, extensive knowledge of ongoing security breaches 

beginning in 2008 with failure to adequately respond, failure to provide adequate staffing and 

training, and failure to comply with industry standard regulations. Id. The report shows that the 

first full-scale breach of the user database was the 2013 breach. Id. However, several incidents 

prior to 2013 appear to have involved several million accounts, as well as access to Yahoo’s 

internal systems. Id. 

Although providing relief is appropriate, it must be done correctly. The parties must

provide sufficient information for the Court to review the settlement and for class members to 

make informed decisions as to their participation in the settlement based on any unauthorized 

access of data in 2012. The current record is devoid of such information. Plaintiffs did not allege 

any claims related to any data breaches prior to 2013 in the Consolidated Class Action Complaint 

(“CAC”) and the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) even though the CAC and FAC alleged 

inadequate security measures as early as 2008. ECF No. 252-17, CAC or the FAC. Moreover, the 

CAC, FAC, settlement agreement, and motion for preliminary approval do not state what 

happened with Yahoo users’ data in 2012 or identify any harm to any group of 2012 Yahoo users. 

Yahoo has never disclosed any such harm to its users and continues to deny any data breach prior 

to 2013. ECF No. 351 at 18-19. Accordingly, the Court and class members have no basis to 

evaluate the 2012 claims and their release.

Moreover, the parties do not identify how many additional users would be included in the 

settlement class that were not part of the class as defined in the FAC. The class as defined in the
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FAC included all persons in the U.S. and Israel who registered for free Yahoo accounts, paid 

Yahoo accounts, or Yahoo Small Business or Abacao accounts “whose PII was accessed, 

compromised, or stolen from Yahoo in the 2013 Breach, the 2014 Breach, or the [2015-2016] 

Breach.” ECF No. 338-1 at 1. 

On the other hand, the settlement class includes “[a]ll U.S. and Israel residents and small 

businesses with Yahoo accounts at any time during the period of January 1, 2012 through 

December 31, 2016, inclusive.” ECF No. 338-1 at 2. The parties acknowledge that the settlement 

class is broader than the proposed class in the FAC. ECF No. 338-1 at 4. Thus, the settlement 

releases the claims of 2012 users who may not have been part of the later data breaches. The 

viability of any claims on behalf of 2012 users goes to both the strength of plaintiffs’ case and the 

risk of maintaining class action status throughout the trial. See Hanlon, 150 F.3d at 1026. 

Accordingly, the parties’ inadequate disclosures prevent the class members and the Court from

assessing the reasonableness of the settlement. See In re Online DVD-Rental Antitrust Litig., 779 

F.3d at 946; Lane, 696 F.3d at 818.

2. Improper Release of Claims

Independent of the inadequate disclosures regarding the release of 2012 claims, the Court 

concludes that the release of these claims conflicts with Ninth Circuit precedent, which only 

allows release of claims “where the released claim[s] [are] based on the identical factual predicate 

as that underlying the claims in the settled class action.” Hesse v. Sprint Corp., 598 F.3d 581, 590 

(9th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Chavez v. PVH Corp., 2015 WL 

581382, at *6 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 11, 2015) (where “the release in a settlement agreement does not 

limit released claims to those arising out of the facts alleged in the complaint, denial of . . . 

approval [to] the settlement is appropriate.”). Specifically, the settlement releases claims on 

behalf of all users in 2012, but the FAC does not assert claims based on any incidents prior to the 

2013 data breach. Accordingly, the Court concludes that the settlement releases claims that are 

not “based on the identical factual predicate as that underlying the claims in the settled class 
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action.” Hesse, 598 F.3d at 590. Accordingly, any future settlement must amend the FAC.

C. Failure to Adequately Disclose Size of the Settlement Fund

The proposed notice fails to disclose the total size of the settlement fund. As a result, class 

members cannot assess the reasonableness of the settlement. See Churchill Vill., L.L.C., 361 F.3d 

at 575 (notice must “describe[] the terms of the settlement in sufficient detail to alert those with 

adverse viewpoints to investigate and to come forward and be heard.” (citation omitted)).

The proposed notice discloses $50 million to cover out-of-pocket costs, alternative 

compensation, paid user costs, and small business user costs. ECF No. 330-8 at 17. In addition, 

the proposed notice discloses that class counsel may apply for attorneys’ fees of up to $35 million, 

costs and expenses of up to $2.5 million, and service awards of up to $7,500 each for settlement 

class representatives, to be paid separately from the settlement fund. The proposed notice does not 

disclose the costs of credit monitoring services or costs for class notice and settlement 

administration, and does not disclose the total size of the settlement fund. Without knowing the 

total size of the settlement fund, class members cannot assess the reasonableness of the settlement.

Similarly, the settlement agreement and the motion for preliminary approval also fail to 

identify the size of the settlement fund. The parties’ lack of disclosure also inhibits the Court’s 

ability to assess the reasonableness of the settlement.

In addition, without knowing the total size of the settlement fund, class members cannot 

reasonably assess the attorneys’ fees award. The proposed notice provides inadequate information 

for class members to assess the potential attorneys’ fees award as a percent of the total settlement 

fund. Moreover, as discussed in more detail below, the Court finds that the settlement may result 

in an improper reverter of attorneys’ fees. This potential reverter would reduce the total amount 

that Yahoo would have to pay as a result of the settlement. As a result, the potential reverter 

further prevents class members and the Court from assessing the reasonableness of the settlement. 

See Churchill Vill., L.L.C., 361 F.3d at 575; Lane, 696 F.3d at 818.

D. Reverter of Attorneys’ Fees
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The Court concludes that the settlement may allow for unreasonably high attorneys’ fees, 

and therefore any unawarded attorneys’ fees may improperly revert to Defendants. See In re 

Bluetooth Headset Prods. Liab. Litig., 654 F.3d 935, 949 (9th Cir. 2011). The proposed 

settlement authorizes up to $35 million in attorneys’ fees, “to be paid separate and apart from the 

Settlement Fund.” ECF No. 330-3 at 23. Because attorneys’ fees do not come from the 

Settlement Fund, any amount not awarded by the Court would effectively revert to Defendants 

rather than to the benefit of the class.

In In re Bluetooth Headset Prods. Liab. Litig., the Ninth Circuit held that a similar 

attorneys’ fees arrangement was not prohibited, but that the district court “was required to 

examine the negotiation process with even greater scrutiny than is ordinarily demanded, and 

approval of the settlement had to be supported by a clear explanation of why the disproportionate 

fee is justified and does not betray the class’s interests.” 654 F.3d at 949. The court explained 

that unless the attorneys’ fees arrangement was “in the class’ best interest as part of the settlement 

package,” the “funds should have been negotiated to revert to the class rather than to the putative 

wrongdoer[s].” 654 F.3d at 949 (internal quotation and citation omitted). The Ninth Circuit 

explained that this sort of fee arrangement is particularly problematic where the district court 

concludes that “the settlement authorizes unreasonably high attorneys’ fees.” Id.

As discussed below, the Court relies on both the lodestar method and the percentage-ofrecovery method to conclude that the settlement may authorize “unreasonably high attorneys’ 

fees.” Id.; see also In re Online DVD-Rental Antitrust Litig., 779 F.3d at 944-45 (“One way that a 

court may demonstrate that its use of a particular method or the amount awarded is reasonable is 

by conducting a cross-check using the other method.”).

1. Lodestar Method

Class counsel provided a lodestar figure of $22 million for 38,278.81 hours of work. ECF 

No. 337-6. By the Court’s count, Plaintiffs’ lodestar covers 143 attorneys from 32 firms. Id. This 

Court authorized only five law firms to work on the instant MDL case. ECF No. 58. On February 
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1, 2018, the Court ordered “[o]ther that the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, no other law firms 

shall work on this MDL without prior approval of the Court. Motions for approval of additional 

Plaintiffs’ counsel shall identify the additional Plaintiffs’ counsel and their background, the 

specific proposed tasks, and why Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee cannot perform these tasks.” 

ECF No. 208. On May 7, 2018, the Court granted class counsel’s request to allow one attorney 

from four law firms to attend and help prepare their respective clients, who are Plaintiffs in the 

instant MDL case, for these Plaintiffs’ depositions by Defendants. ECF No. 233. On June 20, 

2018, the Court granted class counsel’s request to substitute an attorney who was approved on 

May 7, 2018 with that attorney’s colleague. ECF No. 241. The Court also allowed one additional 

attorney to assist an attorney approved on May 7, 2018. Id. Class counsel has not made any 

further motions for approval of additional counsel in the instant MDL case. However, the parties 

seek attorneys’ fees for 24 firms in the instant MDL case and 8 firms in the JCCP case.

The scope of class counsels’ work in the instant case was substantially limited by the 

parties’ agreement that California law governed and by the small number of counts in the 

complaint, many with overlapping elements. See ECF No. 196, ¶ 175 (stipulation agreeing that 

“California common law and statutory law applies to all claims by members of the United States 

and Paid Users Classes”), ¶ 179 (Plaintiffs’ contention that California law should apply to all 

claims for all classes). The Consolidated Class Action Complaint (“CAC”) only included thirteen 

counts. ECF No. 80. On behalf of the United States and Israel Classes, the CAC alleged two 

California statutory violations (Unfair Competition Law and Consumer Legal Remedies Act). On 

behalf of the United States, Israel, and Small Business Classes, the CAC alleged two California 

statutory violations (Data Breach Notification Law and Online Privacy Protection Act), one 

federal statutory violation (Stored Communications Act), and three common law causes of action 

(Breach of Contract, Breach of Implied Contracts, and Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith 

and Fair Dealing). On behalf of the Small Business Class, the CAC alleged one California 

Statutory violation (Unfair Competition Law) and two common law causes of action (Fraudulent 
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Inducement and Negligent Misrepresentation). On behalf of users from Australia, Venezuela, and 

Spain, the CAC alleged one common law cause of action (Negligence). On behalf of all classes, 

the CAC alleged one claim for Declaratory Relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2201.

The First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) also included thirteen counts, which substantially 

overlapped with the CAC. ECF No. 196. The FAC added one count for Deceit by Concealment 

under Cal. Civil Code §§ 1709, 1710; two counts for violations of the California Customer 

Records Act; and alleged separate violations of the California Unfair Competition Law for 

Unlawful Business Practice and Unfair Business Practice. Unlike the CAC, the FAC did not 

allege violations of the Data Breach Notification Law, Online Privacy Protection Act, Stored 

Communications Act, or allege Fraudulent Inducement.

In addition to filing two complaints, class counsel filed oppositions to two motions to 

dismiss. ECF Nos. 117, 211. Finally, class counsel filed a motion for class certification, ECF No. 

325, and a motion for preliminary approval of class action settlement. ECF No. 330. Class 

counsel also prepared four expert reports, took seven Yahoo depositions, and reviewed 9 million 

pages of discovery.

As Plaintiffs argued, their opposition to the second motion to dismiss substantially 

overlapped with their opposition to the first motion to dismiss. ECF No. 211 at 2 (“Now that 

Defendants can no longer challenge the sufficiency of [Plaintiffs’] claims head on, they argue in 

their Motion to Dismiss that the Court should grant them backdoor exits.”). For example, 

Plaintiffs explained that Defendants “argue again that their services are not really services” under 

the Consumers Legal Remedies Act and California common law; “argue[] that money users paid 

to Yahoo for supposedly secure services does not grant standing under the Unfair Competition 

Law when this Court already held that it does;” and argue again “that Plaintiffs’ PII is not covered 

under the California Customer Records Act—this time under Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.81.5.” Id. at 

3 (citations omitted). The Court agrees with Plaintiffs’ description of the opposition to the second 

motion to dismiss. Specifically, the Court finds that both motions to dismiss addressed questions 
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related to standing under the Unfair Competition Law, adequacy of claims under the Consumer 

Legal Remedies Act, adequacy of claims under the Customer Records Act, adequacy of California 

breach of contract claims, adequacy of negligence claims, application of the economic loss rule to 

negligence claims, and adequacy of declaratory judgment claims.

Moreover, the Court concludes that the legal theories involved were not particularly novel. 

In Adobe and Anthem, this Court previously addressed several of the legal theories that Plaintiffs 

relied on in the instant case. See In re Adobe Sys., Inc. Privacy Litig. (“Adobe”), 66 F. Supp. 3d 

1197 (N.D. Cal. 2014); In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litig. (“Anthem I”), 162 F. Supp. 3d 953 

(N.D. Cal. 2016); In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litig., (“Anthem II”), 2016 WL 3029783 (N.D. 

Cal. May 17, 2016). Specifically, the Court finds that these precedents addressed key issues in the 

current case, including: (1) whether risk of future identify theft and loss of value of PII constitute 

injury in fact to support Article III standing, see Adobe, 66 F. Supp. 3d at 1214-15; Anthem II, 

2016 WL 3029783, at *14; (2) whether Plaintiffs can adequately state a causal connection between 

a data breach and alleged harms, see Anthem I, 162 F. Supp. 3d at 987; (3) whether benefit-of-thebargain losses related to the value of reasonable data security are sufficient to support standing 

under the California Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), Adobe, 66 F. Supp. 3d at 1224; Anthem II, 

2016 WL 3029783, at *30; (4) whether Plaintiffs can adequately allege a claim under the UCL for 

unlawful conduct where Plaintiffs allege an underlying California Customer Records Act (“CRA”) 

violation, Adobe, 66 F. Supp. 3d at 1226; (5) whether Plaintiffs can adequately allege a claim 

under the UCL for unfair conduct under the balancing test where Plaintiffs allege that Defendant 

failed to adequately protect customer data, Adobe, 66 F. Supp. 3d at 1227; Anthem I, 162 F. Supp. 

3d at 990; and (6) whether contract language regarding “inherent limitations” in privacy 

safeguards “relieve[s] [Defendant] of the responsibility . . . to provide ‘reasonable’ security,” see 

Adobe, 66 F. Supp. 3d at 1221. In addition, other courts in this district had addressed whether 

software could constitute a “service” under the California Consumers Legal Remedy Act when the 

software provider “continually updates” and supports the software. See Haskins v. Symantec 
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Corp., No. 13-CV-01834-JST, 2013 WL 6234610, at *9 n.9 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 2, 2013).

As to the discovery conducted by Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs took only 7 percipient witness and 

Rule 30(b)(6) depositions. Mot. at 1; ECF No. 351 at 29. Defendants took more depositions than 

Plaintiffs, including depositions of Plaintiffs’ four experts. Plaintiffs never deposed Defendants’ 

experts. Id. During Case Management Conferences, the Court had to encourage class counsel to 

actively litigate the case and take discovery. See, e.g., ECF No. 155 at 26 (instructing class 

counsel “You need to get this discovery so that you can amend this complaint in time.”).

Class counsel in the JCCP case filed a complaint, opposed a motion to stay, opposed a 

demurrer, and filed a motion for class certification. ECF No. 330-17 at 3. However, as previously 

discussed, except for the invasion of privacy claim, the JCCP case asserted the same California 

state law claims as the instant MDL case. During case management conferences in the instant 

case, the parties explained to this Court that they were coordinating discovery with plaintiffs in the 

JCCP case. ECF No. 91 at 28; No. 108 at 6; No. 111 at 41. In their declarations supporting the 

motion for preliminary approval, class counsel in the instant MDL and JCCP cases explained that 

discovery was coordinated, including shared depositions and document production. ECF No. 330-

2 at 3; 330-17 at 6-7. Accordingly, the Court concludes that the lodestar claimed is unreasonably 

high even taking account of the work done in the JCCP case. Specifically, the Court finds that 

class counsel prepared limited legal filings with numerous overlapping issues, and that class 

counsel completed limited discovery relative to the scope of the alleged claims. Moreover, class 

counsel fails to explain why it took 32 law firms to do the work in this case.

Comparing the lodestar claimed in the instant case to the lodestar claimed in a novel and 

highly complex case, In re High-Tech, further suggests that the hours and lodestar figure here are 

unreasonably high. In re High-Tech involved complex antitrust issues of first impression in an 

action against seven large technology companies—including Google, Apple, and Intel—regarding 

an alleged conspiracy to fix and suppress employee compensation. 2015 WL 5158730, at *10. 

Class counsel in In re High-Tech engaged in many more rounds of motions practice and settled on 
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the eve of trial. Most prominently, in the four years that the case was pending, class counsel in In 

re High-Tech took 93 depositions, served 28 subpoenas to third parties, survived two motions to 

dismiss, litigated two rounds of class certification, opposed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit under 

Federal Rule of Civil 23(f), survived five summary judgment motions, survived multiple rounds of 

Daubert challenges, filed and opposed motions in limine, prepared for the pretrial conference and 

trial, negotiated multiple settlements, and opposed mandamus in the Ninth Circuit. Id. More 

precisely, class counsel in In re High-Tech:

(1) identified the alleged conspiracy to fix and suppress employee compensation in 

the tech industry; (2) met with their clients and secured retainer agreements; (3) 

prepared and filed multiple complaints against Defendants; (4) survived two 

motions to dismiss; (5) undertook considerable discovery, including taking 93 

depositions and defending 14 others, serving 75 document requests, reviewing the 

resulting 325,000 documents (over 3.2 million pages), serving 28 subpoenas on 

third parties, reviewing 8,809 pages of documents from those third parties, 

producing over 31,000 pages of documents in response to Defendants’ document 

requests, and responding to and reviewing 34 subpoenas served by Defendants on 

third parties; (6) retained four experts to assist in analyzing over 15 gigabytes of 

employment-related compensation and recruiting data; (7) worked with the experts 

to produce multiple expert reports; (8) filed a consolidated class action complaint; 

(9) litigated two rounds of class certification; (10) opposed a Rule 23(f) appeal to 

the Ninth Circuit; (11) survived five summary judgment motions; (12) prepared for 

trial; (13) negotiated [multiple] settlements; and (14) opposed mandamus in the 

Ninth Circuit.

Id. Class counsel’s efforts in In re High-Tech produced a non-reversionary settlement fund 

of $415 million with no claim form and a recovery of about $5,770 per class member. Id. at *12. 

Class counsel in In re High-Tech, which consisted of four law firms, claimed to have spent 

36,215.00 hours on the litigation, yielding a lodestar figure of $18,201,787.50. Id. at *10.

In the instant case, MDL and JCCP class counsel claim to have spent 38,278.81 hours on 

the litigation, with a lodestar figure of $22,069,890.30, effectively for work in the instant MDL 

case and in the JCCP case. ECF No. 337-6 at 3. In other words, class counsel claim to have spent 

more time litigating this case and request a higher lodestar figure than class counsel did in In re 

High-Tech. This claim is surprising. Moreover, class counsel in In re High-Tech secured a 

significantly larger settlement of $415 million with more direct payments to class members than 
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the $50 million settlement fund disclosed in the proposed notice here. The Court recognizes that 

there are differences between the instant case and In re High-Tech that may bear on the lodestar. 

However, the Court finds that the comparison between the instant case and In re High-Tech

provides an additional indication that the hours and lodestar figure here may be unreasonably high. 

Moreover, the $35 million authorized in the settlement agreement is more than 50% greater than 

the lodestar figure. As a result, the Court concludes that the settlement may allow for improper 

reverter of funds to Defendants. See In re Bluetooth Headset Prods. Liab. Litig., 654 F.3d at 949.

2. Percentage of Recovery Method

In their supplemental filing, class counsel explains that attorneys’ fees were only 

calculated based on the lodestar. See ECF No. 338-1 at 18. This is inconsistent with the Ninth 

Circuit’s guidance that the district court should employ both the lodestar and percentage-ofrecovery methods to cross-check their calculations of attorneys’ fees and ensure that the fees are 

reasonable. See In re Online DVD-Rental Antitrust Litig., 779 F.3d at 949. The Ninth Circuit 

specifically instructs that the percentage-of-recovery method is still applicable as a cross-check, 

even when the parties relied solely on the lodestar method. See In re Bluetooth Headset Prods. 

Liab. Litig., 654 F.3d at 945 (“If the lodestar amount overcompensates the attorneys according to 

the 25% benchmark standard, then a second look to evaluate the reasonableness of the hours 

worked and rates claimed is appropriate.” (quoting In re Coordinated Pretrial Proceedings in 

Petroleum Prods. Antitrust Litig., 109 F.3d 602, 607 (9th Cir. 1997))). Accordingly, the Court 

calculates attorneys’ fees based on the percentage of recovery method despite the parties’ failure 

to do so.

The only numbers to which the parties commit in the settlement agreement, motion for 

preliminary approval, and proposed notice are $50 million for the settlement fund, up to $35 

million in attorneys’ fees, and up to $2.5 million in attorneys’ costs and expenses, for a total of 

$87.5 million. ECF No. 330-1 at 9, 19. Based on these numbers, attorneys’ fees would be 40% of 

the settlement fund. Taking account of the additional funds the parties disclosed under seal in 
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their supplemental filing, the Court finds that the attorneys’ fees request remains much greater 

than the 25% benchmark standard used in this Circuit. See In re Bluetooth Headset Prods. Liab. 

Litig., 654 F.3d at 945. Even using the lower percentage that takes into account the additional 

funds disclosed in the parties’ supplemental filing, the Court finds that the attorneys’ fees award 

may be unreasonably high as calculated using the percentage-of-recovery method.

“Although a percentage award in a megafund case can be 25% or even as high as 30–40%, 

typically the percentage award in such a case is substantially less than the 25% benchmark 

applicable to typical class settlements in this Circuit.” Alexander v. FedEx Ground Package Sys., 

Inc., No. 05-CV-00038-EMC, 2016 WL 3351017, at *2 (N.D. Cal. June 15, 2016). This rule 

reflects the basic reality that, at some point, the increasing amount of a settlement may be a 

function of class size, not counsel’s efforts. See In re NASDAQ Mkt.-Makers Antitrust Litig., 187 

F.R.D. 465, 486 (S.D.N.Y. 1998).

This Court has previously relied on a leading study conducted by Theodore Eisenberg and 

Geoffrey Miller, in which the authors reviewed large common-fund settlements over a 16-year 

period, between 1993 and 2008. See No. 11-CV-02509-LHK, 2015 WL 5158730, at *13 (N.D. 

Cal. Sept. 2, 2015) (citing Theodore Eisenberg & Geoffrey P. Miller, Attorney Fees and Expenses 

in Class Action Settlements: 1993–2008, 7 J. Empirical Legal Stud. 248 (2010)). Previously, the 

Court looked to the authors’ analysis of common funds exceeding $175.5 million and concluded 

that a percentage recovery of 9.8% or 10.5% was appropriate for a fund of $415 million. Id. 

Relevant here, the authors analyzed fee awards based on a sample of 69 settlements ranging from 

$69.6–175.5 million and found that the median percentage was 19.9% and the mean percentage 

was 19.4% with a standard deviation of 8.4%. Eisenberg & Miller, supra, at 265 tbl.7.

In this case, the settlement falls within the $69.6–175 million range. However, the Court 

finds that the attorneys’ fees award substantially exceeds the 19.4% mean and 19.9% median 

figures in the authors’ study. The maximum requested fees award appears to reflect the size of the 

class rather than the work of class counsel. See In re NASDAQ Mkt.-Makers Antitrust Litig., 187 
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F.R.D. at 486. As discussed above, the proposed settlement was submitted before the parties even 

completed briefing on the motion for class certification, class counsel took only 7 depositions, and 

the causes of action involved a limited number of California law claims.

3. Conclusion

Under both the lodestar and percentage of recovery methods, the Court finds that the 

maximum attorneys’ fee award may be unreasonably high. As a result, the Court finds that the 

settlement creates a potential reverter to Defendants rather than to the benefit of the class. The 

Court finds that the potential reverter is not “in the class’ best interest as part of the settlement 

package.” See In re Bluetooth Headset Prods. Liab. Litig., 654 F.3d at 949.

E. Failure to Adequately Disclose the Scope of Non-Monetary Relief

The Court finds that the parties fail to adequately disclose the scope of non-monetary 

relief. The settlement agreement does not commit to any specific increases in budget or number of 

employees to improve information security. ECF No. 330-3 at 10. With respect to business 

practices to enhance security, the settlement agreement states that Defendants shall “maintain the 

business practice commitments related to information security to safeguard current users’ and 

Settlement Class Members’ Personal Information as set forth in Exhibit 2 . . . for a period of no 

less than three years.” ECF No. 330-3 at 10. The Court finds that the referenced exhibit, filed 

under seal, is vague as to Yahoo’s specific commitments to enhance its security. As a result of the 

lack of specific increases in budget or number of employees and the vague commitments as to 

changed business practices, the Court cannot adequately consider the benefits offered to the class 

in settlement. See Hanlon, 150 F.3d at 1026.

F. Misleading Estimate as to the Size of the Settlement Class

The Court finds that the parties’ supplemental filings have disclosed a misleading estimate 

of the size of the settlement class. As a result, the Court is unable to adequately assess whether the 

settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. See Lane, 696 F.3d at 818.

The parties represent that the data breaches affected 3 billion user accounts worldwide, 
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with approximately 1 billion user accounts in the U.S. and Israel, and that the class size is 

approximately 200 million U.S. and Israeli individuals. Mot. at 3, 8.

In their supplemental filings, the parties explain the estimated class size as follows: 

[T]he U.S. population [] in 2013 was only 316,128,839. Under the [Yahoo Terms 

of Service], minors under the age of 13 were ineligible to create a Yahoo account[]. 

According to census data, there were 56,835,475 individuals that were then under 

the age of 14 in the United States. In addition, CDC data indicates that there were 

2,712,630 reported deaths in the U.S. in 2015. Thus, the starting point for the 

number of potential eligible class members, assuming 2,500,000 deaths a year since 

2013, is no more than 247,000,000 once you subtract minors and decedents. The 

parties conservatively estimate that approximately 80% of the U.S. population had 

some type of Yahoo account during the period yielding a potential class size of 200 

million. ECF No. 338-1 at 5.

The parties assert that “Yahoo did not track or maintain data regarding the number of 

actual individuals that used Yahoo Mail as distinguished from the number of active accounts.” 

ECF No. 338-1 at 5.

However, Yahoo cites the number of active users publicly when disclosure suits Yahoo’s 

interests. For example, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s July 25, 2016 press release, announcing 

Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo, claims that Yahoo reaches “a global audience of more than 1 

billion monthly active users.” Press Release, Verizon, Verizon to Acquire Yahoo’s Operating 

Business (July 25, 2016), available at https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-acquireyahoos-operating-business. In its 2016 Annual Report to the SEC, filed in March 2017, Yahoo 

stated that it had “[m]ore than 650 million [] monthly users.” Yahoo, 2016 Annual Report (Form 

10-K), at 15 (Mar. 1, 2017).

In addition, Yahoo provided under seal the number of active user accounts in the U.S. 

during the relevant period. ECF No. 337-5 at 8. At the motion for preliminary approval hearing 

Yahoo acknowledged that the number of active user accounts would provide a more accurate 

estimate of the number of affected individuals than the “population study” it provided to the court. 

ECF No. 351 at 16. Yahoo explained that when they ran simulations to match up numbers of 

accounts to numbers of actual users, “the number of users was far lower than what was estimated 
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here.” Id. The Court’s own review of the parties’ public and sealed supplemental filings shows 

that the number of active user accounts in the U.S. during the relevant period was far lower than 

Yahoo’s public calculation of 200 million affected class members. 

Based on Yahoo’s own representations, the Court finds that Yahoo’s public estimate of the 

class size is inaccurate and that there are more accurate means of estimating the class size. The 

parties’ inadequate disclosure of the size of the affected class prevents the Court from adequately 

assessing the strength of the plaintiffs’ case and the risk of maintaining class action status 

throughout the trial. See Hanlon, 150 F.3d at 1026.

G. Comparison to Anthem settlement

During the hearing, the parties compared the preliminary settlement agreement favorably 

to the settlement approved in In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litig., 327 F.R.D. 299 (2018). The 

Court disagrees.

Anthem involved about 79 million victims and a $115 million settlement. Defendants there 

timely disclosed the data breaches to affected users and provided two years of free credit 

monitoring to users prior to any settlement of litigation. Moreover, in addition to the clear and 

specific terms of the settlement fund in that case, Defendants in Anthem committed to tripling their 

budget for data security for three years and very specific business practice changes to improve 

data security.

In contrast, this case involves allegedly 200 million users according to Yahoo’s public

estimates, which Yahoo admits are not accurate. Yahoo’s user database was breached multiple 

times over a period of many years, and Yahoo denied any knowledge of unauthorized access of 

personal data in its filings with the SEC and delayed notification to users even when it had 

contemporaneous knowledge of the breaches. As a result, users were unaware of the need to take 

any steps to protect themselves against potential misuse of their data, and Yahoo has not provided 

any credit monitoring on its own up to this point. 

Yahoo’s misrepresentations are particularly concerning. For example, on September 9, 
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2016, in an SEC filing regarding Verizon’s purchase of Yahoo, Yahoo represented that Yahoo 

knew of no incidents of unauthorized access of personal data that might adversely affect the 

Verizon acquisition of Yahoo. Yahoo, Preliminary Proxy Statement (Schedule 14(A), at Exhibit 

A-18 (Sept. 9, 2016), available at https://www.altaba.com/static-files/ad5f11da-0a78-4f3e-90f8-

dd204c1978fb. However, thirteen days later, on September 22, 2016, Yahoo publicly disclosed 

the 2014 data breach. ECF No. 196, ¶ 126. In the announcement, Yahoo claimed that it learned 

of the 2014 data breach during a “recent investigation.” Yahoo Security Notice September 22, 

2016, available at https://help.yahoo.com/kb/%20SLN28092.html. Six months later, Yahoo 

admitted on March 1, 2017 in its 10-K filing with the SEC that Yahoo had “contemporaneous 

knowledge” of the 2014 data breach. ECF No. 196, ¶ 129; Yahoo, 2016 Annual Report (Form 10-

K), at 47 (Mar. 1, 2017). 

Moreover, Yahoo continues to deny any data breaches in 2012 but wants a release of any 

claims arising from that time period. Unlike Anthem, Yahoo’s data was sold on the dark web, and 

Yahoo bought back the data on the dark web. Plaintiffs allege that others have also purchased 

Yahoo’s data on the dark web. In the settlement agreement, Yahoo has only committed to the $50 

million settlement fund and hides the total settlement fund amount. Yahoo misrepresents the 

number of affected Yahoo users by publicly filing an inflated, inaccurate calculation of users and 

simultaneously filing under seal a more accurate, much smaller number. Yahoo has not committed 

to any specific increases in budget for data security and has made only vague commitments as to 

specific business practices to improve data security. Yahoo’s history of nondisclosure and lack of 

transparency related to the data breaches are egregious. Unfortunately, the settlement agreement,

proposed notice, motion for preliminary approval, and public and sealed supplemental filings

continue this pattern of lack of transparency.

IV. CONCLUSION

In sum, based on the parties’ current filings, the Court cannot conclude that the settlement 

is “fundamentally fair, adequate, and reasonable.” Hanlon, 150 F.3d at 1026. For the foregoing 
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Case No. 16-MD-02752-LHK 

AMENDED ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION 

SETTLEMENT

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

reasons, Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval of class action settlement is DENIED.2

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: January 30, 2019

______________________________________

LUCY H. KOH

United States District Judge

 

2 The objection of Edward W. Orr and Darlene D. Orr is denied as moot. ECF No. 343.