Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

Nashville residents take on Google Wi-Spy, join privacy lawsuit

As reported in The Tennessean, a group of Nashville residents and attorneys are part of a class-action lawsuit against Internet giant Google that could go down as the largest invasion-of-privacy case in history. The company is accused of breaking federal and state wiretap laws from 2007 to 2010. That's when vehicles that were deployed nationwide to collect images for Google Maps' street view feature also were outfitted with software that lifted scraps of personal information off residents' and businesses' open wireless networks.

Nashville marketing and design coordinator Wes Hartline was outraged when he first heard about the so-called Wi-Spy controversy last year. He was working for health-care companies at the time and routinely dealt with confidential records while using his wireless network. He says he's worried that he could be held personally liable if private information was collected and ever got loose.

Hartline is one of several people across the country who have sued Google in federal court. They were referred to lawyers at Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein by Nashville attorney Brian Manookian, who works at Gideon Cooper & Essary and knew his firm wasn't built to go toe to toe with the likes of Google. San Francisco-based Lieff Cabraser, however, is one of the most prominent plaintiffs firms in the nation, having achieved verdicts and settlements valued at more than $100 million in 45 cases, including 15 cases that won awards of $1 billion.

One of the firm's three offices happens to be in Nashville. The Nashville case was ultimately consolidated with others across the country in a California federal court, and the firm was appointed to a leadership position to coordinate with the court and represent all the plaintiffs in the case. Nashville-based attorneys including Kathryn Barnett and Kenneth Byrd are working on the case.

Read the full article at The Tennessean.