“A $1 billion trial against Apple Inc. over whether it illegally locked iPod users into iTunes will continue after a judge refused to suspend proceedings while lawyers look for another lead plaintiff,” Karen Gullo and Robert Burnson report for Bloomberg.
“Patrick Coughlin, an attorney for consumers who brought the lawsuit almost a decade ago, failed to persuade U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, today to put the trial on hold,” Gullo and Burnson report. “Rogers removed the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff yesterday following Apple’s discovery that she hadn’t directly purchased an iPod covered by the lawsuit. That revelation threatened to derail the case for Coughlin, who needs at least one lead plaintiff to pursue damages in the antitrust case.”
“Bill Isaacson, a lawyer for Cupertino, California-based Apple, complained that bringing in new named plaintiffs halfway through a trial is unfair,” Gullo and Burnson report. “‘There is a very serious issue here of prejudice to the defendant,’ he said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Patrick Coughlin. The farce is strong with this one.
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