"That data was lost before the case could be settled."
Alpha Goo has never lost any data. Keeping data is what they do.
It is especially not "deletable by a user", not even an internal one.
Check the carefully curated off-site backups (in duplicate, or more). You'll find it.
This is true of all the data gathering companies. If they claim it's gone, for any reason, they are lying.
The opinions expressed above are those of the author & etc.