SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — A California federal judge indicated Thursday he was more inclined to side with the Republican National Committee over accusations Google improperly pushed its emails to people’s spam folders.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Calabretta said he thinks the committee properly argued that Google acted in bad faith when committee fundraising emails were routed to spam folders during the months leading up to the 2022 election. Though the judge didn't issue a formal decision at Thursday's hearing, this determination would push the suit to its next step.
The committee also is asking for an injunction against Google to ensure it follows the law.
Google had successfully obtained a dismissal of the initial complaint last year, had sought to have the suit dismissed, though the committee amended the suit, leading Google to again request its dismissal.
“My friend claims to this day that they did nothing wrong,” said attorney Thomas Vaseliou, representing the committee, about Google’s counsel. “Nothing is preventing Google from picking up where they left off.”
The committee has argued that around the end of each month leading up to November 2022, its emails were diverted from the intended recipients. The problem only stopped around the time it filed suit.
Arguing for Google, attorney Michael Huston said the people who received the committee’s emails were the ones who marked them as spam. That designation temporarily changed the routing of committee emails. In a few days, when people received fewer emails in their inbox and didn’t mark them as spam, the email filter returned to normal. The cycle would then repeat.
“This is about your own users’ spam rankings,” Huston said the tech giant told the committee.
The committee approached Google about the issue, and it worked to correct the problem.
According to Vaseliou, Google offered changing explanations about why the emails were going to spam.
Calabretta questioned whether the committee truly was injured by Google’s actions, as people continued to receive email. They merely had to check their spam folder.
Huston argued that the committee concedes it’s had no problems with its emails for over a year. He added that it may have once had a valid claim, but no longer.
“Courts don’t issue injunctions for non-problems,” Huston said. “It’s about preventing ongoing harm. There is no ongoing harm.”
“I don’t think Google’s voluntary cessation is enough,” the judge replied.
Huston also argued that by allowing the committee’s suit to go forward, Calabretta would open the door to many similar suits. Anyone could then claim an email service provider was negligently filtering emails and file a complaint.
The public’s interest must be weighed against the committee’s claims of being harmed, Huston added.
If the suit progresses, it could also create a new form of discrimination under the law — political. Huston asked the judge to consider the effect that would have on companies that provide email services.
Huston said a high rate of spam from bulk email senders is considered 0.1%. Google in its motion to dismiss states that the committee’s spam emails ranged between 0.14% and 0.3% — at least 40% higher than the acceptable rate.
The spam problem stopped on Oct. 3, 2022, Huston said. The complaint was filed later that month.
Huston also said Thursday was the first time he’d heard the committee claim the spam issue appeared during the last weekend of every month. Beforehand, it said it happened near the end of each month.
“That just goes to the shifting nature of the allegations,” Huston added.
Calabretta gave no timeline for when he might rule on the case, though he gave Huston a week to file a written response to a comment made by Vaseliou.
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
