The US Justice Department has asked a judge to determine that Alphabet Inc’s Google broke antitrust laws in the search sector by misusing an attorney-client privilege designation to avoid handing over documents.
When writing about sensitive business matters in a court filing, the Justice Department recommended that Google be sanctioned for adopting a “Communicate with Care” policy that urges employees to include an attorney and a request for assistance.
The department said that “often, realizing the game, the in-house counsel included in these Communicate-with-Care letters does not react at all,” noting that many of the conversations were regarding revenue-sharing agreements Google had signed with other companies.
Google has turned over more than 4 million documents to the authorities, according to a Google spokesman. “Our personnel has worked diligently for years to respond to inquiries and litigation,” the representative continued, “and any accusations to the contrary are totally incorrect.”
The Justice Department has requested for the records to be produced if the in-house counsel does not respond. It requested that the matter be heard by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.
The Justice Department filed the complaint in 2020, with a trial set for September 2023.
