Google A federal judge in California ruled Tuesday for failing to save chat messages between employees related to an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games.
The company “sacrificed its retention obligations to adopt a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy for retaining messages,” the judge said in the file.
The judge has yet to decide what sanctions Google will face, writing: It may have been lost in chat communication. ”
Google faces similar allegations that it has destroyed potential evidence by the Justice Department in an antitrust lawsuit against the company. said.
The latest filing included a series of messages between Google executives discussing whether chat histories should be kept for issues that may be relevant to litigation.
Epic alleged that Google failed to retain employee-to-employee chat messages it should have retained during the legal hold. Google allegedly let employees decide when to turn chat history on or off when discussing matters related to legal proceedings. Epic said Google should have kept these messages by default. The exhibit Epic presented seemed to show that Google employees saw chat as an informal way of communicating.
Judge James Donato clarified that “no ruling will be made on the basis of lost chat communications,” but determining the appropriate non-financial sanction would require further He said a procedure was required.
Donato has ordered Google to bear reasonable attorneys’ fees related to the Evidence Matter Claim.
“For years, our team has worked diligently to respond to findings by Epic and state AGs.
A Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement:
Epic has not issued a statement regarding this story.
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