Texas has asked a judge to block Google from questioning the state and its legal team in their lawsuit accusing the Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit of unlawfully collecting biometric privacy data of millions of Texans without consent.
Attorneys for Texas in a court filing this week said Google’s demand to depose the state on a host of topics — including the state’s understanding of key terms in the privacy law — amounted to an impermissible effort to “investigate the investigator.”
“If every defendant could depose the State of Texas or the [Office of Attorney General] in a civil enforcement action, the state’s ability to remedy public harms would grind to a halt,” Texas told the Midland County court.
The data collection occurred through products such as Google Photos, Google Assistant and Nest Hub Max, Texas said. The privacy law sets out penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.
Google and Texas did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Texas has hired a large global firm, Norton Rose Fulbright, to represent it in the case. Google, which has denied any wrongdoing, is represented by lawyers at Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
Meta, which has denied wrongdoing, said this month that it was planning to settle the state's lawsuit. Neither side has publicly revealed the proposed terms.
Google said it wants to depose Texas on topics that include liability and penalties. Texas is “seeking astronomical penalties,” according to Google.
The company also wants to question Texas about its business arrangements with biometric vendors Clearview AI and Idemia.
“Rather than investigate its conduct or bring enforcement actions, the state is paying Clearview AI for access to a trove of biometric information of Texans,” Google said.
Google asserted that “there is nothing novel about deposing the state.”
The case is Texas v Google LLC, 385th Judicial District Court, Midland County, No. CV58999.
For Texas: Marc Collier and Joseph Graham Jr of Norton Rose Fulbright
For Google: R. Paul Yetter of Yetter Coleman; Benedict Hur and Simona Agnolucci of Willkie Farr & Gallagher
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