Nelnet Stuck With California Privacy Claim Over Google Analytics

Nelnet Inc. failed to convince a federal judge to completely dismiss a proposed class action alleging it disclosing personal information to Google via its use of Google Analytics.

The student loan company said it was entitled to derivative sovereign immunity because it was a government contractor that lacked discretion over using Google Analytics. But that’s an affirmative defense, not a jurisdictional bar, and the record didn’t sufficiently show that Nelnet lacked discretion regardless, Judge Noël Wise of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said.

The Ninth Circuit hasn’t addressed whether derivative sovereign immunity is a jurisdictional ...