Apple demands $540,000 in legal fees after winning iPhone price-fixing case

Apple

After successfully defeating a price-fixing lawsuit last year, Apple now wants its legal expenses reimbursed. The company, along with Amazon, has filed a motion seeking repayment of attorneys’ fees following the dismissal of a 2022 antitrust case that accused the two tech giants of restricting iPhone and iPad resellers on Amazon’s marketplace.

The case, originally filed by law firm Hagens Berman on behalf of plaintiff Steven Floyd, alleged that Apple and Amazon conspired to limit third-party sellers to keep iPhone and iPad prices artificially high. However, in September 2024, U.S. District Judge Kymberly Evanson dismissed the suit, citing misconduct by the plaintiff’s legal team.

According to court documents, Floyd withdrew from the case after his lawyers claimed he had become “difficult to reach.” Judge Evanson later discovered that Hagens Berman was actually searching for replacement plaintiffs rather than being unable to contact Floyd — a move Apple and Amazon argue amounted to deliberate misrepresentation.

Now, the two companies are seeking compensation for the unnecessary legal expenses caused by what they call “bad faith” conduct. In their joint filing, they wrote, “Hagens Berman’s well-documented misrepresentations wasted the Court’s resources and imposed substantial expenses on defendants that would not have been necessary but for counsel’s misconduct.”

Apple is requesting $540,000 in attorney fees, while Amazon is demanding $1.4 million. Both companies argue that they are entitled to reimbursement under federal law, which allows courts to impose penalties for litigation misconduct.

Hagens Berman’s managing partner, Steve Berman, told Reuters that the firms “are not entitled to fees” and that the plaintiffs “will vigorously contest their demand.”