US court sanctions Google for removing evidence in cartel cases: Report
Alphabet Inc’s Google LLC intentionally destroyed employee “chat” evidence in antitrust lawsuits in California and must pay penalties and face possible punishment at trial, a U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco said in his ruling that Google was “remarkably derelict” in its obligations to preserve documents. The verdict is part of a multidistrict litigation that includes a consumer class action of up to 21 million residents; 38 states and the District of Columbia; and companies such as Epic Games Inc and Match Group LLC.
Consumers and other plaintiffs are challenging Google’s alleged monopoly over the distribution of Android mobile apps, but Google has denied the allegations. The plaintiffs have sought $4.7 billion in damages.
The judge asked the plaintiffs’ lawyers by April 21 to submit the amount in court costs they are seeking as a penalty.
Separately, the plaintiffs have the option of urging Donato to tell jurors that Google destroyed information that was unfavorable to them. He said he wanted to see the “situation” at a later stage of the case.
“Google has attempted to downplay the problem and demonstrated a dismissive attitude ill-attuned to the seriousness of its conduct,” the judge said.
A Google spokesperson said Tuesday that the company has “generated more than three million documents, including thousands of conversations.”
In a court filing last year, Google’s lawyers said the company took “vigorous steps to preserve appropriate conversations.”
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs had no immediate comment.
The attorneys said they were seeking instant communications about the “core issues” of the trial, according to their filings. The attorneys said Google deleted chat records every 24 hours and “continued to do so even after this lawsuit began.”
The judge ruled that Google “left employees largely to determine what Chat communications might be relevant” to the lawsuit.
The trial is scheduled to begin in November.
Google is separately fighting claims in a US Justice Department antitrust case in federal court in Washington, DC, involving the destroyed chat records.
In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 3:21-md-02981-JD.
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