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Plaintiffs accused Apple, Google, Intel Corp and
Adobe Systems Inc in the 2011 lawsuit of limiting job mobility
and, as a result, keeping a lid on salaries.
The case has been closely watched because of the possibility of
big damages being awarded and for the opportunity to peek into
the world of some of America's elite tech firms.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, last year
rejected a $324.5 million settlement of the lawsuit as too low
after one of the named plaintiffs objected.
That worker will support the new agreement, his attorney Daniel
Girard said, which could be a joint payment of $415 million, the
New York Times reported citing a person close to the
negotiations. (http://nyti.ms/1u3Qjmu)
Representatives for Apple, Intel and Adobe declined to comment.
A Google spokesman could not be reached, nor could an attorney
for the plaintiffs.
The case was based largely on emails in which Apple co-founder
Steve Jobs, former Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt
and some of their rivals detailed plans to avoid poaching each
other's prized engineers.
In rejecting the $324.5 million deal, Koh repeatedly referred to
a related 2013 settlement involving Disney and Intuit.
Apple and Google workers got proportionally less than Disney
workers, Koh wrote, even though plaintiff lawyers had "much more
leverage" against Apple and Google.
To match the earlier settlement, the deal with Apple, Google,
Intel and Adobe "would need to total at least $380 million," Koh
wrote.
In the short court filing on Tuesday, the companies said
plaintiffs would file a detailed explanation of the new deal
"imminently." Koh will then likely decide whether to accept or
reject it.
The case is In Re: High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, U.S.
District Court, Northern District of California 11-cv-2509.
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