Multidistrict Panel Joins Eight Google WiFi Suits in California District Court

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Aug. 17 ordered the consolidation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California of eight putative class actions against Google Inc. over its interception of internet data from unsecured wireless connections (In re Google Inc. Interception of Elec. Commc’ns Litig.).

The court said it selected the Northern District of California because the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Google is headquartered in that judicial district and most if not all of the relevant evidence is located there.

Google May 14 revealed what it said was its inadvertent collection of WiFi data during ...