In re High Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation

Berger Montague represented a certified class of employees suing technology and media giants including Apple Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Intuit Inc., Pixar Animation Studios Inc., and LucasFilm Ltd. in which the plaintiffs alleged agreements and a conspiracy between these companies not to recruit each other’s employees. The class of employees sought lost compensation stemming from these wage-suppressing “no-poach” agreements between the companies.

The case was litigated in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California under the caption In re High Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, No. 11-cv-2509 (N.D. Cal.). In 2012, the court denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss with regard to the antitrust claims, and in 2013, granted the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, certifying a class of approximately 64,000 persons who worked in the defendants’ technical, creative, and/or research and development jobs from 2005-2009.

In 2013, the plaintiffs reached the first settlement with certain defendants for $20 million. In 2015, the plaintiffs reached a second settlement with the remaining defendants for $415 million. The court granted final approval to the second settlement in September 2015, bringing the total aggregate settlement amount to $435 million for workers in the high tech industry.

If you or your company has been harmed by anticompetitive conduct or any conduct that you believe violates the antitrust laws, please contact Berger Montague.

About Berger Montague

Berger Montague is a national law firm focusing on complex civil litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States. For over half a century, Berger Montague has played lead roles in consequential, precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.