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Lieff Cabraser and Kaplan Gore Announce Filing of Federal Class Action Lawsuit Against Google Over the Defective Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio Devices

via Business Wire

Complaint alleges that Google induced plaintiffs and other customers to spend hundreds of dollars or more each to purchase Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio devices with defective voice-control functionality

On November 24, 2025, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP and Kaplan Gore, LLP filed a federal class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California on behalf of four representative plaintiffs who allege that Google induced them and hundreds of thousands of other customers to spend hundreds of dollars or more each to purchase Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio devices by promising a reliable voice-controlled smart home in which devices are interconnected to each other. Plaintiffs allege that the four devices are defective and stopped functioning properly well before their expected useful life, as they no longer register or accurately respond to users’ voice commands. As detailed in the Complaint,

"This case arises from the common and device-wide malfunction of four different types of Google Home and Nest devices, the Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio, all of which lose voice control functionality. Plaintiffs and other Class Members invested hundreds of dollars and hours into creating an ecosystem of smart home devices for their homes centered around Google Nest. These smart home devices are all connected to each other through a voice-command system (Google Nest and Google Assistant) that no longer functions properly."

As the Complaint goes on to allege, "As a result, Plaintiffs and hundreds of thousands of consumers like them suffered harm in that they did not get what they paid for and are stuck with an unreliable, nonfunctioning Google Nest ecosystem that Google is unable or unwilling to fix."

Through this action, plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, seek, among other things, actual damages, restitution, disgorgement of profits, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and an order requiring Google to stop its breaches and to restore the functionality of Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio devices.

"This is a straightforward consumer case," notes Lieff Cabraser senior partner Jonathan D. Selbin, who represents the plaintiffs. "Our clients—and hundreds of thousands if not millions of others like them around the country—purchased a product that they allege has become useless for its intended function. When they asked Google to stand behind its products and either make them work or refund their money, it declined. We and our clients bring this case to hold Google accountable to everyone harmed by Google’s actions, and ensure they are compensated for their damages."

As laid out in the Complaint, Google developed, manufactured, and marketed Google Nest (formerly known as Google Home), which is a collection of smart home devices. At least four Google Nest devices operate via voice control: Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio.

These four devices interact with each other and enable users to speak voice commands to control services through Google Assistant, which is Google’s virtual assistant. Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio users can listen to music, receive news updates, and search the internet entirely by voice. Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio devices also enable home automation, letting users control their smart home appliances with voice command. Users can create a smart home ecosystem centered around these four devices and controlled through Google Assistant.

Plaintiffs allege that over the last five years, Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio devices began to malfunction: they no longer respond to voice commands, randomly turn on or off, randomly go offline, disconnect from each other, fail to perform basic tasks, and respond slowly or with error messages. For example, when asked to turn off the lights, the devices turn on a fan. Audio devices and smart speakers unexplainably stop playing music or podcasts, and TVs turn off mid-use. Devices do not respond to even basic verbal questions like “What’s the weather?”

“The Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio devices’ ability to control and interact via voice command is the core functionality and the central feature for which plaintiffs and consumers paid,” notes Darren Kaplan of Kaplan Gore, who also represents the plaintiffs. "However, rather than getting “smarter” and better over time, these Google ‘smart’ home devices get worse at their core function of analyzing and processing voice commands."

The Complaint goes on to note: "There have been widespread complaints about frequent glitches and malfunctions of the voice command feature. The types of system malfunctions reported include consistently failing to interpret or act on voice commands, returning irrelevant information, losing internet connectivity despite a stable WiFi connection, and failing to recognize registered user voices. Users indicate a steady decline in functionality often culminating in the cessation of use of the devices entirely because they do not work consistently and cause significant problems when they malfunction. Users report investing many hours and hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in their Google Nest ecosystems."

Moreover, the Complaint alleges that Google knew of the voice command feature defects and concealed those defects from consumers. On July 23, 2025, Chief Product Officer at Google Home and Nest, Anish Kattukaran, publicly acknowledged the product defects on X, stating, “Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices. I sincerely apologize for what you’re experience and feeling! We hear you loud and clear and are committed to getting this right – and making sure we have a long term solution that provides better reliability and capability, We have been actively working on major improvements for some time and will have more to share in the fall.” Even after Google responded to the initial wave of complaints by saying that fixes and upgrades are on the way, users continued to experience problems with the voice command feature of Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max, Google Nest Mini, and Google Nest Audio devices.

Further allegations include violations of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, false advertising, violations of California Unfair Competition Law, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, fraud, affirmative misrepresentation, omission/concealment, unjust enrichment, and fraud in the inducement as well as several additional statutory violations.

The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and an award to Plaintiffs and the other Class Members of compensatory, exemplary, and punitive remedies and damages and statutory penalties in an amount to be proven at trial, as well as restitution and other appropriate equitable relief.

Lieff Cabraser & Kaplan Gore File Federal Class Action Against Google Over Defective Google Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max, Nest Mini & Nest Audio Devices

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