Attorney-Client Privilege: US Court in Google Case Wants More Details

Judge Amit Mehta said last week that he was unsure if he has the authority to penalize a firm for conduct committed prior to the filing of the complaint. Mehta urged the government and Google on Tuesday to name any incidents that bolstered their arguments for or against the penalties.

Additionally, Mehta directed Google to generate a random sample of 210 emails from the 21,000 for evaluation.

"Once the court has completed its examination, it will consider whether an order forcing disclosure of the whole collection of contested emails or some other course of action is appropriate," Mehta said in his ruling.

The Justice Department sued Google in 2020, alleging that the company violated antitrust rules in its management of its search business. The trial has been scheduled for September 2023.