Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Kohler Secretly Shares Personal Data, Browsing Activity with Third Parties

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Kohler, through its e-commerce websites, has allowed users’ information and browsing activity to be transmitted to third parties, even when consumers declined or rejected all cookies and tracking.

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Per the 51-page complaint, when a consumer visits Kohler’s websites, including Kohler.com, Robern.com and Kallista.com, they are immediately presented with a cookie consent banner that prompts them to either accept or reject all cookies.  Kohler’s websites disclose that cookies are intended to “enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, enable troubleshooting session recording for optimized customer support resolution, and assist in our marketing efforts,” the suit says.

However, the lawsuit alleges that clicking the “Reject All” option, unbeknownst to users, does not prevent consumer information from being tracked and shared with third parties. In fact, the filing claims, Kohler allows cookies and tracking technology to be placed on a device before the pop-up cookie consent banner appears.

The lawsuit skewers Kohler in alleging that the company’s promises of privacy “are outright lies, designed to lull users into a false sense of security.”

The suit further claims that Kohler has allowed personal communications and browsing activity to be shared with third parties, including Meta, TikTok, Microsoft, and others, even after consumers clicked “Reject All” on the cookie banner. According to the suit, cookies allow these third parties to surreptitiously track consumers’ online activity in real time – even when they are on an entirely different website.

The case maintains that personal information scraped by these third-party cookies is often used to build consumer profiles that include anything from browsing history to geographic information.

The filing goes on to say that Kohler “can use the data to create and analyze the performance of marketing campaigns, website design, product placement, and target specific users or groups of users for advertisements.” Extensive collection of user data allows Kohler to “spot patterns in users’ behavior” on its websites and determine “their interests in, among other things, [Kohler’s] plumbing products,” the lawsuit argues.

The case further alleges that this information has a quantifiable economic value, adding that “companies view this information as a corporate asset and have invested heavily in software that facilitates the collection of consumer information.”

The Kohler class action lawsuit seeks to represent any individuals who browsed Kohler’s websites in California after clicking on or selecting the “Reject All” button in the pop-up cookies consent banner.

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