Apple and Amazon cleared in iPhone and iPad price-fixing lawsuit

A Seattle federal court has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit that accused Apple and Amazon of unlawfully handling iPhone and iPad prices. Here are the details.

Lawyers reportedly tried to buy time to find new plaintiffs

In 2022, Steven Floyd and his lawyers filed an antitrust putative class action against Amazon and Apple.

They claimed that Apple wanted to reduce the number of iPhone and iPad resellers on Amazon’s marketplace, so the company allegedly agreed to offer its products to Amazon at reduced wholesale prices in exchange for restricting third-party sellers. Both companies denied the accusations.

Now, as reported by Reuters, the court has granted Apple’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Kymberly Evanson found that Floyd’s lawyers misled her by omitting the fact that Floyd had decided to withdraw from the case. Instead, they told the court he had “become difficult to reach,” while in reality they were seeking to add new plaintiffs to take his place.

In her ruling, Judge Evanson said the following:

“As noted earlier in this order, the Court relies on counsel to be candid, by rule and by necessity. And as laid out in this order, the misrepresentations regarding Floyd have required the Court to revisit multiple prior orders entered in this case, noting numerous assumptions which no longer stand, and altering conclusions previously reached. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Apple’s motion for reconsideration (Dkt. No. 221) and as a result, dismisses this action. Floyd’s individual claims have already been dismissed with prejudice, and this order denies any attempt to add additional named plaintiffs. Without a plaintiff remaining to prosecute this action, it must be dismissed, with prejudice as to Floyd (as already effected), and without prejudice to claims brought by any remaining putative class members.”

The judge also said that court time is “a finite resource,” and that it reached its decision after holding “multiple hearings (…) attempting to fairly address” the situation.

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