Four Silicon Valley
companies including Apple and Google have agreed to a new settlement that would
resolve an antitrust class action lawsuit by tech workers, who accused the
firms of conspiring to avoid poaching each other’s employees.
Plaintiffs accused
Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe Systems in their 2011 lawsuit of limiting job
mobility and, as a result, keeping a lid on salaries. The case has been closely
watched because of the possibility of big damages being awarded and for the
opportunity to peek into the world of some of America’s elite tech firms.
U.S. District Judge Lucy
Koh in San Jose, California, last year rejected a $324.5 million settlement of
the lawsuit as too low after one of the named plaintiffs objected.
That worker will support
the new agreement, his attorney Daniel Girard said. However, Girard declined to
disclose the amount, and it was not included in the court filing.
Representatives for
Apple, Intel and Adobe declined to comment. A Google spokesman could not be
reached, nor could an attorney for the plaintiffs.
The case was based
largely on emails in which Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, former Google Chief
Executive Officer Eric Schmidt and some of their rivals detailed plans to avoid
poaching each other’s prized engineers.
In rejecting the $324.5
million deal, Koh repeatedly referred to a related 2013 settlement involving
Disney and Intuit. Apple and Google workers got proportionally less than Disney
workers, Koh wrote, even though plaintiff lawyers had “much more leverage”
against Apple and Google.
To match the earlier
settlement, the deal with Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe “would need to total
at least $380 million,” Koh wrote.
In the short court
filing on Tuesday, the companies said plaintiffs will file a detailed
explanation of the new deal “imminently.” Koh will then likely decide whether
to accept or reject it.
The case is In Re:
High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District
of California 11-cv-2509.
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