Plaintiffs in Silicon Valley anti-poaching case ask appeals court to reject Apple settlement proposal

Anti-poaching suit's Class Representative Michael Devine. | Source: The New York Times

In a court filing on Tuesday, a class of plaintiffs in the ongoing High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation requested that a federal appeals court deny a $324.5 million settlement proposal from the four tech giants, reports Reuters.

The motion harkens back to April, when the companies agreed to settle with the class over allegations of no-hire arrangements, but the offer was subsequently denied by Judge Koh, who said the amount was too low. Defendants fired back, saying in a September filing that Judge Koh "committed clear legal error" in deciding against the proposal.

Apple and its three co-defendants ultimately moved the issue up the ladder to an appellate court, which is in the process of hearing both sides of the story before remanding the case back to district court.

While plaintiffs previously fought against the $324.5 million payout, the group said in today's filing that the original deal warranted approval, but will "defer to [Judge Koh's] sound judgment about how best to oversee this litigation." In their appeal, defendants take issue with Judge Koh's authority in deciding against the settlement.