- A federal judge said Google had “adopted a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy to keep messages, at the expense of their preservation duties.”
- The court ordered Google to pay the attorneys’ fees involved in the dispute but is still deciding on remedies.
A Google sign is pictured as the company presents a detailed investment plan for Germany outside the Google office in Berlin, Germany, August 31, 2021.
Annegret Hills | Reuters
Google should be punished for failing to maintain chat messages among employees related to an antitrust case brought by Epic Games, a California federal judge said Tuesday.
In the suit, the judge said the company had “adopted a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy” to preserve messages, at the expense of preservation duties.
The judge has yet to specify what penalties Google should face, writing that “the court would like to see the playing state of the evidence at the end of finding out the truth. At that time, the plaintiffs will be in a better position to tell the court what may have been lost in the chat communications.”
Google faces similar allegations of potential evidence destruction by the Department of Justice in its antitrust lawsuits against the company. A Google spokesperson said at the time of the DOJ filing that it did not agree with the DOJ’s claims.
The latest filing involved a series of letters between Google executives discussing whether they needed to keep a history of chat about issues that might relate to litigation.
Epic alleged that Google failed to retain chat messages between employees that it was supposed to do during the litigation pause. Google allegedly left it up to employees to decide when to turn the chat history on and off when discussing matters related to legal proceedings. Epic said Google had to make sure these messages were saved by default. The renderings by Epic seem to show that Google employees saw chats as a less formal way of communicating.
The judge, James Donato, made it clear that the case “will not be decided on the basis of lost chat connections,” but said that a decision on an appropriate non-monetary penalty would require further action.
Donato ordered Google to cover reasonable attorneys’ fees related to the claim relating to the evidence case.
“Our teams have worked faithfully, for years, to respond to Epic and state AGs’ discoveries
A Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement:
Epic has not provided a statement for this story.
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