ANDREW ROLEY V. GOOGLE LLC, No. 21-15677 (9th Cir. 2022)
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Google sent an email to users, such as Plaintiff, who had contributed photos to Google maps but had not yet joined the company’s Local Guides Program, inviting them to join the program. Plaintiff joined the Local Guides program and claimed his terabyte of free Google Drive storage. Google advised him the benefit was for two years, and Plaintiff contended that when he read the initial email, he assumed Google was offering a lifetime benefit. In ruling on Google’s summary judgment motion, the district court considered three documents – the photo impact email, the enrollment page, and the Program Rules - and concluded that they did not constitute a unilateral contract offer for one terabyte of free Google Drive storage for life.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment. The court explained that advertisements are not typically understood as offers, but that rule includes an exception for offers of a reward. The operative question under California law is “whether the advertiser, in clear and positive terms, promised to render performance in exchange for something requested by the advertiser, and whether the recipient of the advertisement reasonably might have concluded that by acting in accordance with the request a contract would be formed.”
The court reasoned that the Google documents at issue neither informed users how they might conclude the bargain, nor invited the performance of a specific act, leaving nothing for negotiation. The court held that the district court properly granted summary judgment to Google on Plaintiff’s conversion and breach of contract claims.
Court Description: California Contract Law. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment to Google LLC on plaintiff’s breach of contract and conversion claims in a class action alleging that an email sent to plaintiff by Google constituted an offer for one terabyte of Google Drive storage under California contract law. Google sent an email to users, such as plaintiff, who had contributed photos to Google maps, but had not yet joined the company’s Local Guides Program, inviting them to join the program. Plaintiff joined the Local Guides program, achieved Level 4 status by contributing local content to Google, and claimed his terabyte of free Google Drive storage. Google advised him the benefit was for two years, and plaintiff contended that when he read the initial email, he assumed Google was offering a lifetime benefit. In ruling on Google’s summary judgment motion, the district court considered three documents – the photo impact email, the enrollment page, and the Program Rules - and concluded that they did not constitute a unilateral contract offer for one terabyte of free Google Drive storage for life. Advertisements are not typically understood as offers, but that rule includes an exception for offers of a reward. The operative question under California law is “whether the advertiser, in clear and positive terms, promised to render performance in exchange for something requested by the ROLEY V. GOOGLE 3 advertiser, and whether the recipient of the advertisement reasonably might have concluded that by acting in accordance with the request a contract would be formed.” Donovan v. RRL Corp., 27 P.3d 702, 710 (Cal. 2001). The panel held that the district court properly concluded that Google’s communications did not constitute an offer for one terabyte of Google Drive storage. The Google documents at issue neither informed users how they might conclude the bargain, nor invited the performance of a specific act, leaving nothing for negotiation. The panel rejected plaintiff’s arguments to the contrary. The panel concluded that the district court correctly granted summary judgment to Google on plaintiff’s breach of contract claim. The panel held that the district court also properly granted summary judgment to Google on plaintiff’s conversion claim. In his reply brief, plaintiff contended that his conversion claim survived summary judgment even if his breach of contract claim did not. Because plaintiff did not present this argument to the district court or in his opening brief, the panel declined to address it. 4 ROLEY V. GOOGLE
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