Stefan Mileschin

A US judge said she had concerns about approving a $324.5 million settlement involving Apple, Google and two other tech companies in a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to avoid poaching each other's workers.

US District Judge Lucy Koh said that the employers had considerable power over their employees and she was worried that the settlement did little to help them out.

Tech employees filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe in 2011. The case has been closely watched due to the potentially high damages award and the opportunity to peek into the world of Silicon Valley's elite.

The four companies agreed to settle with the plaintiffs in April for a total of $324.5 million. The plaintiffs had planned to ask for about $3 billion in damages at trial, which could have tripled to $9 billion under antitrust law.

Koh said the employees should have cleaned the employer’s clock given the strength of the evidence in the case.

Emails showed Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and some of their Silicon Valley rivals hatching plans to enforce their no-poaching agreement.

http://news.techeye.net/business/jud...ent-settlement