Hagens Berman, the first law firm to file an anti-trust lawsuit against most major publishers and Apple alleging conspiracy in fixing e-book prices, has been named the lead counsel in the action. After Hagens Berman filed its suit this summer, about a dozen other similar cases were filed in New York and Northern California and earlier this month the courts ordered all cases to beconsolidated in the Southern District of New York. At a pre-trial conference Tuesday, senior U.S. District Judge Denise Cote appointed Hagens Berman as the lead counsel and Cohen Milstein to assist HB.
An amended complaint is due to be filed by January 20 at which time the first look at how Hagens Berman intends to consolidate the cases will be revealed. Hagens Berman’s original suit did not include Amazon or Random House as defendants although other suits did. Steve Berman told the Wall Street Journal that he expects Amazon to be dropped from the suit. In its brief filed in association with its effort to be named lead counsel, Hagens Berman argued that Amazon and Random, rather than defendants, should be called as witnesses.
