Google Wins Summary Judgment in 2022 Google Apps Free Version Class Action
A Northern District of California judge ruled that Google's contracts expressly authorized discontinuing the free version of Google Apps, defeating a certified nationwide class on breach-of-contract and UCL claims.
Cooley secured summary judgment for Google in Rabin v. Google LLC, a class action filed in 2022 by users of the free edition of Google Apps after Google discontinued that tier. Although the court had certified a nationwide class in June 2025, Judge P. Casey Pitts adopted Google's reading of the agreements in full, holding that the promise to provide the free version was subject to an express right to terminate service to any user at any time and for any reason. The breach-of-contract claim therefore failed as a matter of law. The companion California Unfair Competition Law claim fell with it, because conduct expressly authorized by contract cannot be 'unfair' under the UCL, and the court also found the named plaintiff lacked standing to pursue a misrepresentation theory because he could not show reliance on any extra-contractual statements. The win is a clean, classwide termination of exposure on a certified theory, which matters to platform and SaaS clients litigating class actions over unilateral feature or service changes. Watch for any plaintiff's appeal to the Ninth Circuit and for downstream motions for attorneys' fees.