Against the backdrop of Apple and Qualcomm recently settling a multibillion-dollar antitrust case just after opening statements in a San Diego federal jury trial, trial attorneys including Litigation Practice Group Partner David S. Becker told Law360 that such settlements are not uncommon. The attorneys say companies sometimes see how a jury is reacting to their claims, or how a key witness performed on the stand, before deciding that a settlement makes the most sense. In his comments for the story, Mr. Becker likened the strategy to “poker playing; you're turning over the cards one at a time, and at a certain point you run out of cards to turn over.” In the story published April 19, 2019, Law360 also reviews other recent cases that settled mid-trial: Waymo v. Uber, Beef Products v. ABC, Taylor Bean v. PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the Johnson & Johnson Talc trials. To read the article, click here (subscription required).
