Google faces trial

over data collection

A panel of federal judges said Tuesday that Google must face a lawsuit seeking class action status that alleged the tech giant misled some users of its Chrome browser into thinking it wasn’t collecting data on their activity, the latest in a string of legal defeats for the company in recent months. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco struck down a 2022 federal district court ruling that threw out the lawsuit, saying the lower court didn’t take into account whether “reasonable” people would have understood their data was being collected by Google’s Chrome browser when they chose not to activate a feature that syncs a person’s Chrome activity with their Google account. The appeals court sent the case back to the district level for trial.

Reports inflated

job creation

The U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March this year than were originally reported, the government says. The revised total adds to evidence that the job market has been steadily slowing and likely reinforces the Federal Reserve’s plan to start cutting interest rates soon. Job growth averaged 174,000 a month in the 12 months that ended in March — a drop of 68,000 a month from the 242,000 that were initially reported. The revisions are preliminary, with final numbers to be issued in February next year.

Ford to shift

EV strategy

Ford Motor Co. is changing its electric vehicle plans and will focus on making two new electric pickup trucks and a new commercial van. The company says all will cost less, have longer range and be profitable within a year of reaching showrooms. Ford said production of its next generation full-size electric pickup truck will be delayed 18 months, until 2027. The company also says it won’t build fully electric three-row SUVs, but instead will focus on making those vehicles as gas-electric hybrids. The other new pickup will be mid-sized, based on new underpinnings developed by a small team in California.

Asbestos clinic

seeks fine reversal

A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination is asking an appeals court to reverse almost $6 million in fines and penalties after a jury found it submitted hundreds of false claims. Asbestos-tainted vermiculite mined from a nearby mountain was shipped through Libby, Montana, by rail over decades, sickening or killing thousands of people. A jury last year said 337 cases from the Center for Asbestos Related Disease were based on false claims that made patients eligible for Medicare and other benefits. BNSF Railway, which brought the case, separately faces lawsuits over its own role in Libby’s contamination.

— Bulletin wire reports