Ross Todd, The Recorder
SAN FRANCISCO — LinkedIn Corp. has agreed to pay $13 million to settle a proposed privacy class action claiming the company used site users' names and likenesses to shower their contacts with repeated spam-like invitations to join the professional networking site. The proposed settlement filed late Thursday night is subject to approval from U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh.
If approved, the deal would rank among the largest payouts to settle a privacy case filed in the Northern District of California.
Thursday's settlement comes after Koh twice last year denied LinkedIn's attempts to knock out the LinkedIn privacy lawsuit. Plaintiffs first sued LinkedIn in September 2013 claiming the company violated the federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act, and California privacy and right of publicity laws by harvesting email addresses from users' contacts to send repeated invitations through its "Add Connections" feature.