Joseph W. Cotchett, Jr.

Burlingame

Civil Rights, Securities, Environmental Law, Mass Torts & Antitrust

Recently, Joseph W. Cotchett, Jr. achieved finality on a $310 million settlement -- it could balloon to $500 million, depending on the number of class applicants -- plus $80.5 million in attorney fees against Apple Inc. The class action Cotchett and others filed in 2018 claimed the company issued software updates designed to slow the performance of older iPhones to induce consumers to buy new ones. The deal was concluded after objectors dropped their appeal. Named Plaintiffs and Settlement Class Members et al. v. Apple Inc., 23-15416 (9th Cir., filed March 21, 2023).

"It's one of the largest consumer products cases in the country," Cotchett said.

Scorched-earth litigation tends to be Cotchett's style. The iPhone case included a sanctions demand by Apple against Cotchett for a 2019 incident in which he violated a protective order by disclosing in open court the content of Apple emails about the root cause of the slowdown. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila of San Jose declined to boot Cotchett from the case; Cotchett criticized Apple's efforts at "total secrecy" over the issue.

Cotchett said a settlement may be in the works in another blockbuster class action against a tech giant. He and other firms sued Google LLC in 2020 over allegedly anticompetitive practices. In re Google Play Consumer Antitrust Litigation, 3:20-cv-05761 (N.D. Cal., filed Aug. 16, 2020).

"Along with everything else, Google is stealing your privacy," Cotchett said.

Cotchett has long been an outspoken public scourge of the companies he regularly sues. He detailed his complaints in a 2016 book, "The People vs Greed." This year, he wrote in the foreword to a forthcoming book, "The Corporate Sabotage of America's Future," by the president of Public Citizen, Robert Weissman, big tech, big oil and big pharma have further harmed the public to the point where "things have gotten even worse across our country ... our government is more captured by corporations than ever."

--John Roemer