Alphabet Inc.’s Google is poised to dodge court sanctions after it was called out by the Justice Department for hiding documents from government lawyers.
A federal judge said Friday he didn’t have clear authority to punish the company over its policy that employees copy company lawyers on emails when discussing competition issues, which the U.S. government claims Google uses as a ploy to avoid disclosing records in litigation.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington said the volume of 140,000 so-called “silent attorney” emails the government said Google tried to withhold is “stunning.” But Google’s recent move to produce 9,000 such emails after taking a another look “reflects diligence,” the judge said.
