Courtroom Hot Tub Puts Google Trial Experts to Stress Test
Antitrust lawsuits can live and die on the strength of Ph.D. economists. Courts face the crucial task of weeding out which of those expert witnesses can appear before a jury.
Enter the legal hot tub.
Federal Judge James Donato in San Francisco this summer turned to the unorthodox hearing format in a case challenging Google s dominance of the apps sold to Android phone users.
The two-hour-long hot tub pitted competing witnesses, under oath, in a face-to-face debate. It s a type of back and forth that would never occur during a traditional pre-trial hearing, or even at trial.
Donato, who played the role of judge, debate moderator, and sometime referee, later cited the hot tub testimony in decertifying the consumer class suing Alphabet Inc. s Google in the case, In Re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, which is scheduled for trial in November.
The benefits are huge, Donato said of the hearing style.
It s really helpful to hear from the economists, Donato said in a courtroom interview two days after the August hearing. It gives me a higher sense of confidence in the decision I make about whether that person should be allowed to testify at trial, or should be excluded.
As long as they’re not sitting naked in there, it’s ok with me.