US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco said in his
order that Google "fell strikingly short" in its duties to preserve
records. The ruling is part of a multidistrict litigation that includes a
consumer class action with as many as 21 million residents; 38 states and the
District of Columbia; and companies including Epic Games and Match Group.
The consumers and other plaintiffs are challenging Google's
alleged monopoly for distributing Android mobile applications, allegations that
Google has denied. Plaintiffs have claimed aggregate damages of $4.7 billion.
The judge asked the plaintiffs' lawyers by April 21 to
provide an amount in legal fees they are seeking as a sanction.
Separately, the plaintiffs will have a chance to urge Donato
to tell jurors that Google destroyed information that was unfavourable to it.
He said he wants to see "the state of play" at a later stage in the
case.
"Google has tried to downplay the problem and displayed
a dismissive attitude ill tuned to the gravity of its conduct," the judge
said.
A Google spokesperson on Tuesday said the company has
"produced over three million documents, including thousands of
chats."
In a court filing last year, Google's lawyers said the
company took "robust steps to preserve relevant chats."
Lawyers representing plaintiffs had no immediate comment.
The attorneys said they were seeking instant messaging
communication "on topics at the core" of the litigation, according to
their filings. The lawyers said Google was deleting chat records every 24 hours
and "did so even after this litigation commenced."
The judge determined Google "left employees largely on
their own to determine what Chat communications might be relevant" to the
litigation.
The trial is scheduled to begin in November.
Google is separately fighting claims in a US Justice
Department antitrust case in Washington, DC, federal court of destroyed chat
records.
The case is In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, US
District Court, Northern District of California, No. 3:21-md-02981-JD. © Reuters
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