Lieff Cabraser served as Co-Lead Class Counsel in a class action lawsuit alleging that Plaid Inc., a financial technology company, invaded consumers’ privacy in their financial affairs. Plaid provides third-party bank account authentication services for several well-known payment apps, such as Venmo, Coinbase, Square’s Cash App, and Stripe. Plaintiffs alleged that Plaid used login screens that misleadingly looked like those of real banks to obtain consumers’ banking account credentials, and that it subsequently used consumers’ credentials to access their bank accounts and improperly take their banking data. Plaintiffs’ lawsuit asserted claims under state and federal privacy laws and charged that Plaid’s intrusions violated established social norms and exposed consumers to additional privacy risks.

In July 2022, Judge Donna M. Ryu of the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval to a class action settlement that requires Plaid to pay $58 million into a settlement fund from which benefits to settlement class members will be paid. Judge Ryu also praised “the robust injunctive relief provided by the settlement,” which requires Plaid to delete certain user data, disclose more information on the data it collects and stores, and maintain the Plaid Portal website, where users can view and manage the financial accounts and apps connected by Plaid.