Amazon and Apple price fixing class action lawsuit ran into some problems
Apple and Amazon were accused of price fixing via a class action lawsuit filed in 2022, and after the plaintiff seemingly disappeared, the judge has ordered legal fees returned to the companies.
After Apple and Amazon made an agreement in 2018 that would bring more Apple products to the online store, the number of resellers took a nosedive. A class action lawsuit sprung up hoping to reimburse consumers for allegedly paying more money for Apple products thanks to this price fixing “scheme.”
As always, these lawsuits take time, and led to Apple and Amazon issuing a discovery order against the plaintiff in September 2023. According to a report from Reuters, the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro failed to disclose that the plaintiff didn’t want to go through the discovery process and wanted out of the suit.
In order for the lawsuit to continue, there would need to be new plaintiffs put in place, so the law firm told the court they had lost contact with the plaintiff rather than say he wanted out. This led to over a year of pushing for discovery to no avail, which had the court push for access to the law firm’s communications with the plaintiffs.
They discovered that the plaintiff had been trying to back out, while the law firm told the court otherwise. So, the court found that, instead of imposing discovery sanctions on the plaintiff, Apple and Amazon are entitled to request an award for attorney’s fees and expenses.
Apple and Amazon did file for compensation, and they requested a total of $223,000 from Hagens Berman. Apple alone asked for $144k.
The case is still open, as the judge has ordered the plaintiff to show cause why their claims in the lawsuit should not be dismissed with prejudice. That order was issued to be completed by May 2, 2025, so there could be a dismissal or continuance made by the next scheduled hearing.
