Apple Inc.’s court-appointed antitrust monitor, Goodwin Procter’s Michael Bromwich, has defeated the company’s disqualification bid—at least for now.
At a hearing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan denied Apple’s requests that she disqualify Bromwich or suspend his duties pending Apple’s appeal of her final judgment that the company fixed prices for e-books. According to Reuters and Bloomberg News, which had reporters in the courtroom, Cote rejected Apple’s argument that Bromwich revealed bias against Apple by filing an adversarial declaration in court. Siding with the U.S. Department of Justice, Cote also brushed aside concerns that Bromwich is overcharging Apple, noting that a newly released study shows that Apple’s lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher sometimes demand similar hourly rates.
