Google Cuts Mystery Check To US In Bid To Sidestep Jury Trial (reuters.com) 38
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Alphabet's Google has preemptively paid damages to the U.S. government, an unusual move aimed at avoiding a jury trial in the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit over its digital advertising business. Google disclosed (PDF) the payment, but not the amount, in a court filing last week that said the case should be heard and decided by a judge directly. Without a monetary damages claim, Google argued, the government has no right to a jury trial. The Justice Department, which has not said if it will accept the payment, declined to comment on the filing. Google asserted that its check, which it said covered its alleged overcharges for online ads, allows it to sidestep a jury trial whether or not the government takes it.
The Justice Department filed the case last year with Virginia and other states, alleging Google was stifling competition for advertising technology. The government has said Google should be forced to sell its ad manager suite. Google, which has denied the allegations, said in a statement that the Justice Department "manufactured a damages claim at the last minute in an attempt to secure a jury trial." Without disclosing the size of its payment, Google said that after months of discovery, the Justice Department could only point to estimated damages of less than $1 million. The company said the government has said the case is "highly technical" and "outside the everyday knowledge of most prospective jurors."
The Justice Department filed the case last year with Virginia and other states, alleging Google was stifling competition for advertising technology. The government has said Google should be forced to sell its ad manager suite. Google, which has denied the allegations, said in a statement that the Justice Department "manufactured a damages claim at the last minute in an attempt to secure a jury trial." Without disclosing the size of its payment, Google said that after months of discovery, the Justice Department could only point to estimated damages of less than $1 million. The company said the government has said the case is "highly technical" and "outside the everyday knowledge of most prospective jurors."
Re: (Score:3)
That settles it. I'm certainly not voting for Hunter Biden.
Payment to avoid prosecution? (Score:4, Insightful)
That sounds like a bribe, to me.
Just sayin'.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Curious correlation of the fortune in the footer:
"Money will say more in one moment than the most eloquent lover can in years."
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
That sounds like a bribe, to me.
You: "Your car damaged my fence. Pay me $500, or I'll sue."
Neighbor: "Okay, here's $500."
You: "That's bribery!"
Re:Payment to avoid prosecution? (Score:5, Insightful)
More like...
You stole $500 from a bunch of random people.
Neighbor, pays the Judge $500.
Random people still left with the bag.
Re: (Score:2)
And if the judge is clean then you're now in for a $5000 fine for bribery too.
Re: (Score:2)
An accident isn't a crime. Now try "buying its way out of a fraud or illegal business practice" case.
Re: (Score:2)
It is a civil court.
No one is being accused of any crime.
Re: (Score:1)
The word for it is "chutzpah". Don't you just love a system that is so corrupt they can do this in broad daylight?
Yes Indeed... (Score:4, Insightful)
The company said the government has said the case is "highly technical" and "outside the everyday knowledge of most prospective jurors."
And yet, in the User Interface court case between Microsoft and Apple nobody on the jury owned a personal computer and only half the jurors had a college education. But that was just dandy.
The gradual melding of Government and [Wildly Wealthy Brainiacs Who 'Know How Things Should Be'] continues apace.
Re:Yes Indeed... (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmmm, seems like a court needs to decide that (Score:5, Insightful)
Since when does the criminal get to decide total damages?
Most violations of this sort also include an extra penalty as punishment. Simply paying back what you stole is not punishment.
Re: (Score:1)
"Google asserted that its check, which it said covered its alleged overcharges for online ads, allows it to sidestep a jury trial whether or not the government takes it."
Now, I'm not saying that Google isn't lying here, but it's quite possible that Google has actually issued a payment for the amount that it is claimed that they overcharged by. We won't know possibly ever, but at least until we get some kind of acknowledgement of the amount.
Re: Hmmm, seems like a court needs to decide that (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm, seems like a court needs to decide that (Score:5, Informative)
Since when does the criminal get to decide total damages?
There is no criminal. It's a civil trial.
Over 90% of Federal civil lawsuits end with a negotiated settlement.
For that matter, 90% of Federal criminal indictments end with a negotiated deal, about 8% are dismissed, and only 2% go to trial.
Re: (Score:2)
Civil, criminal, whatever. The entity on the defendant side of any legal action does not arbitrarily determine damages and penalties.
Nothing was negotiated. The settlement rate is irrelevant here.
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing was negotiated.
A defendant can negotiate with the prosecutor/plaintiff.
However, a defendant can also file a motion to propose a settlement directly to the court, and the judge can decide on that motion against the plaintiff's wishes.
Many civil trials involve dozens of motions for issues the parties can't agree on, so they go to the judge for resolution.
This is totally standard and happens in almost all non-trivial trials.
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That's nice. Is that what happened here? Not according to the summary.
Re: Hmmm, seems like a court needs to decide that (Score:1)
Because the summary is highly biased and written by people who have no concept of law.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe so, we'll see later what she comes up with in court but seeing absolutely nothing right now she can sue for.
She has no damages.
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Since when does the criminal get to decide total damages?
In the United States? Any time the "potential" criminal has enough money to influence the courts. Our entire government was set up to protect the monied land owners. Today the monied class includes corporations. It's working exactly as designed.
The "Mystery"... (Score:3)
The "Mystery"...is indubitably, greasing the wheels of justice.
Later the judge will get some "rebate" or "discount loan" or some "speaking fee"...for an impartial ruling in the case with Google. The googol of money from Google...
JoshK.
Slapped the government in the face with a fat wad (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay so they slapped the government in the face with a fat wad of cash, then said "You can't bother me anymore".
Wow.
Re: Slapped the government in the face with a fat (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Slapped the government in the face with a fat (Score:4, Insightful)
In this case, I can easily hate both "game" and "player".
Re: (Score:2)
Writing these kinds of loopholes into the law is also a lawyers' job, at least considering how many legislators and lobbyists are lawyers.
Google 'slams' the government (Score:2)
"By signing this check, the US Government hereby relinquishes its claims for a jury trial."
So Google is taking a particularly slimy technique from the telecom industry... https://www.consumer-action.or... [consumer-action.org]
Re: (Score:2)
"Don't be evil" is long dead. It was nice while it lasted.
Re: (Score:3)
Just a reminder - we've been commenting on that for well over a decade. It's not as if being slimy is a recent thing at Google.
A thousand microcheats (Score:2)
Google's rigging of rankings in their favor is bunches of little things such that finding and proving adverse affects to vendors and competitors is probably quite tricky. It's hidden in lint.
Sounds like bribery.. (Score:2)
The Jury is supposed to be there to determine guilt or innocence, money doesn't matter at that point.
The Only Thing That Suprises Me... (Score:2)
Now that's chutzpah (Score:2)
But what exactly is it they don't want people to see?
Hang on a minute... (Score:2)
Legal basis for what they're doing (Score:2)
I'm studying for the bar right now and just covered this in Civil Procedure, at least, what I think it is, but it seems like an unusual way to go about it.
Basically, the seventh amendment guarantees a jury trial in federal civil cases if a party timely demands it, but only for matters of law, which means money damages, not equity (injunctions and other non-monetary remedies). If there is a mix of the two, you get a jury trial, and the jury decides on any facts relating to matters of law or that overlap th