DOJ: Nothing Public to Share on Potential States Joining Google Lawsuit
DOJ can’t yet say whether additional states will join and expand the scope of an antitrust case against Google, DOJ attorney Kenneth Dintzer told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Friday. Judge Amit Mehta held a status…
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conference between DOJ and Google, in which the two sides established several filing dates. There’s “nothing concrete one way or another that I could speak about publicly at this time,” said Dintzer. “I don’t want to answer the court that I don’t know, but I don’t have anything concrete enough for me to provide a public answer on that.” Democratic state attorneys general have suggested they could join the case (see 2010200058). Mehta set a Nov. 6 deadline for the two sides to file status reports on a protective order in the case, a Nov. 13 deadline for the defense to indicate whether it plans to move to dismiss or answer DOJ’s complaint, and a Nov. 20 deadline for initial disclosures. The parties agreed to a Nov. 18 status conference to follow up on Friday’s items. Mehta disclosed a few of his relationships relevant to the case: His first cousin works as a Google engineer, and a close friend previously worked as a Google executive. Mehta doesn’t see them as conflicting or problematic, so he won't recuse himself from the case. Google is eager to review DOJ investigative materials, said Google attorney John Schmidtlein, who requested a Nov. 13 deadline for initial disclosures. The material will help the company formulate a discovery plan, said Schmidtlein. Google remains committed to “investing to build the most helpful, most trusted search experience,” CEO Sundar Pichai said Friday (see 2010300021).