Roley v. Google, LLC

Google, LLC (defendant) created the “Local Guides” program, in which contributors could share photographs and review businesses in their communities. Google offered local guides benefits for participating in the program, including one free terabyte of data storage for guides who reached “Level 4” status. In April of 2016, Google emailed Andrew Roley (plaintiff) and invited him to become a local guide. Roley joined the program as a Level 3 guide after agreeing to the program’s terms and conditions, which provided that the benefits for guides were offered at Google’s discretion and were subject to change. On July 7, 2016, Google emailed Roley and said that it was changing the Level 4 benefit to 100 gigabytes of storage, but that guides who achieved Level 4 status within two weeks would still receive the originally promised terabyte. Roley achieved Level 4 status one week later and redeemed his free storage. Roughly two years later, Google told Roley that his free storage was ending and that he needed to start paying $10 per month for his terabyte. Google claimed that it told Roley about the two-year limit when he redeemed his free storage in 2016, but Roley disputed that claim. Roley sued Google in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging claims including breach of contract. Google moved to dismiss Roley’s complaint.