In a courtroom clash that reads like a legal thriller, Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have asked a Seattle federal judge to order Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP to cover nearly $2 million in defense costs, claiming the firm’s alleged “misrepresentations” dragged out a doomed lawsuit accusing the companies of conspiring to limit device sales on Amazon’s platform.
According to court filings submitted Monday, the tech titans are seeking $1.41 million from Amazon and $540,000 from Apple to recoup attorneys’ fees from nearly 18 months of litigation they argue should have ended far sooner.
A Lawsuit That Refused to Die
The underlying class action, launched by Steven Floyd in 2022, accused Apple and Amazon of colluding to restrict competition by removing third-party Apple resellers from Amazon’s marketplace. The alleged scheme centered on a 2018 deal permitting only Apple-approved vendors to sell iPhones and iPads online — a pact plaintiffs called anticompetitive and defendants claimed was designed to protect consumers from counterfeits.
But Apple and Amazon say the case lost its legitimacy when Floyd told his attorneys in January 2024 that he no longer wanted to continue. Despite that, the lawsuit lingered until September, burdening the court and the defense with unnecessary work, the companies said.
“Those misrepresentations wasted the court’s resources and imposed substantial expenses,” the motion declared, echoing a court order dismissing the case for counsel misconduct.
