If you own an Apple i-Phone, and if you have purchased apps from the Apple App Store, you will likely recover triple damages when this litigation is completed.
Three cheers for the Supreme Court majority of the opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Government and business iPhone purchasers stand to recover, too.
The City of St. Augustine, Florida and other local governments may recover money.
On tonight's City Commission agenda, there's an item that I suggested, re: signing up for a class action lawsuit on credit card merchant fees.
The City of St. Augustine as a water utility, parking garage operator and other Enterprise Fund charge collectors, stands to recover damages from that litigation.
The City of St. Augustine has not always been eager to enforce its rights against big corporations.
For years, CoSa has having failed and refused to follow up on information about the ductile iron pipe cartel investigated by my friend and former client, retired Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall, for eight years, with multiple grand juries and dozens of defense lawyers. I am still waiting for St. Augustine Public Works Director MICHAEL G. CULLUM, P.E. to show the perspicacity and courtesy to get back to me n that one. His predecessor, MARTHA GRAHAM, P.E. , was dismissive and condescending, saying she thought it would "not be lucrative," never consulting antitrust plaintiff's counsel.
Some local governments need spinal and testicular implants whenever a wealthy corporation or individual is involved.
Supreme Court Allows Antitrust Suit Against Apple to Proceed
By Adam Liptak
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed an enormous antitrust class action against Apple to move forward, saying that the plaintiffs should be allowed to try to prove that the technology giant had used monopoly power to raise the prices of iPhone apps.
The lawsuit is in its early stages, and it must overcome other legal hurdles. But successful antitrust plaintiffs are entitled to triple damages, meaning Apple’s exposure could be significant.
The vote was 5 to 4, and it featured an unusual alignment of justices, with President Trump’s two appointees on opposite sides. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who joined the court in October, wrote the majority opinion, which was also signed by the court’s four more liberal justices. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who joined the court in 2017, wrote the dissent.
Apple charges a 30 percent commission to software developers who sell their products through its App Store, bars developers from selling their apps elsewhere and plays a role in setting prices by requiring them to end in 99 cents.
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The App Store has been extraordinarily successful. It features more than two million apps, Apple told the court, and generated payments to developers in 2017 of more than $26 billion.
The legal question in the case, Apple v. Pepper, No. 17-204, was whether the suit was barred by a 1977 decision, Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois, which allowed only direct purchasers of products to bring federal antitrust suits. Apple argued that it was an intermediary and so not subject to suit.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, disagreed. “Apple is a distributor of the iPhone apps, selling them directly to purchasers through its App Store,” Judge William A. Fletcher wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel of the court.
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