In the rubble of the failed Apple and Amazon price fixing suit, the pair have demanded $2 million from Hagens Berman, with the firm accused of trying to dishonestly keep a dead class action alive.
Apple is very familiar with the courtroom, due to being the target of many lawsuits, as well as going after others infringing on its rights. However, it's rare for it to go after lawyers directly.
In one filing on Monday at the United States District Court in Seattle, Amazon and Apple have demanded a payment for attorneys' fees and costs from Hagens Berman. The justification was to cover the cost of legal efforts prompted by a "lack of candor" by the opposing legal firm.
Apple believes it is owed $540,000 in fees, while Amazon has demanded approximately $1.4 million, reports Reuters.
A collapsed class action
The motion stems from a class action lawsuit originally filed in 2022. That lawsuit accused Apple and Amazon of colluding over illegal price fixing, artificially raising product prices to squeeze out third-party sellers.
However, the lawsuit was dismissed in September by U.S. District Judge Kymberley Evanson, as the lawyers allegedly dragged out proceedings unnecessarily. The original plaintiffs intended to abandon the proposed class-action suit, while new plaintiffs were being sought to keep the lawsuit alive.
Judge Evanson explained that the court relied on representations from the law firm that the plaintiffs had not withdrawn in May, when she allowed for more consumers to be added to the complaint. The plaintiffs had urged the judge not to revisit an earlier order that allowed the lawsuit to be amended, on the basis that the proposed class action could continue without the lead plaintiff.
In a later court filing, Hagens Berman admitted "the situation could have been handled better," and insisted it wanted to conclude the case in as professional a manner as possible. Hagens Berman denies misleading the court.
During the May motions, Apple and Amazon told the court they believed the plaintiffs had failed to "candidly and/or accurately describe their client's intentions." At the time, Hagens Berman said it wouldn't oppose sanctions of up to $223,000 in legal fees, far below what Apple and Amazon demand.
Hagens Berman was behind the ebooks price fixing lawsuit which should have been brought against Amazon solely, a class action suit alleging that Apple makes you pay too much for iCloud, an antitrust suit about app store policies in France, a suit about Apple using refurbished devices for service replacements, and so forth. It takes between a third and half of the total class action funds awarded by the judge, or in most cases, settled for.
