Since the "Google Chats" discovery dispute started with a motion by dozens of state AGs, Epic Games, Match Group, and other plaintiffs in October 2022, it has made Google's behavior look worse as more information came to the light of day. The issue has also widened because the DOJ and the same state AGs as in the litigation that was originally started by Epic brought a motion for sanctions in the United States et al. v. Google antitrust litigation in the District of Columbia. Both cases are scheduled to go to trial later this year, and the plaintiffs are seeking trial-related sanctions as opposed to a slap on the wrist.
The latest filing by the plaintiffs in the Northern District of California takes the topic to a new level: Google CEO Sundar Pichai himself is being accused of playing a key role in this. Despite heavy redactions, the following passage is revelatory:
"The newly produced Chats reveal a company-wide culture of concealment coming from the very top, including CEO Sundar Pichai, who is a custodian in this case. In one Chat, Mr. Pichai began discussing a substantive topic, and then immediately wrote: '[REDACTED]' Then, nine seconds later, Mr. Pichai [REDACTED]. [...] When asked under oath [REDACTED]' (Id. Ex. 2, Pichai Dep. Tr. 195:7-12.)
"Like Mr. Pichai, other key Google employees, including those in leadership roles, routinely opted to move from history-on rooms to history-off Chats to hold sensitive conversations, even though they knew they were subject to legal holds. Indeed, they did so even when discussing topics they knew were covered by the litigation holds in order to avoid leaving a record that could be produced in litigation." (emphasis in original)
It's a safe assumption that the above passage tells the story of Mr. Pichai himself having moved a conversation from a history-on to a history-off chat. The first redaction likely means that he realized that the topic should not be discussed with history on, and what he did "nine seconds later" will either have been that he turned history off or that he opened a new chat with history off from the beginning.
This is the filing by Epic and its co-plaintiffs that was made a few hours ago in response to a court order:
Google was also ordered to make a statement, and unsurprisingly Google continues to deny any wrongdoing or prejudice:
From the outside it appears very, very difficult to imagine that Google will get away with what it's done. The courts in California and D.C. will most likely feel forced to impose sanctions. Let us not underestimate how unpleasant this situation is for the two district judges:
Google's systematic avoidance of discovery obligations cannot be tolerated, or draw only symbolic sanctions, without calling the whole system of pretrial discovery and retention obligations into question.
Both cases--the Android app store antitrust case in San Francisco and the search engine monopoly maintenance case in Washington--are among the most important U.S. antitrust cases in history. Adverse inferences could make a major impact.
It would obviously have been preferable for Google not to delete those chats, and then the cases could be decided strictly on the actual evidence. Now it's too late.
Nothing has happened yet about the sanctions motion in the District of Columbia. In California, Judge James Donato has gone to extreme lengths to establish the facts. The discovery dispute there is now getting to the point where a decision will come down.
I also have a brief update on a third Google antitrust case: the ad tech case that was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia in January. Google has requested that the case be transferred to the Southern District of New York, where a multidistrict litigation panel decided to consolidate various other ad tech cases (compared to which Google claims the DOJ's case adds nothing new, though it comes years after some others). Google acknowledges, however, that the DOJ's cases are immune to consolidation. It's just that Google sees no particular reason why that case should be litigated in the Eastern District of Virginia, and it argues that the DOJ's convenience (owing to geographic proximity) is not a major factor. Google may indeed win that venue transfer, given that there is a district judge in New York who's already very familiar with the issues.
