Qualcomm Asks Court to Revisit Class Cert. of 250M Consumers

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Telecommunications equipment maker Qualcomm says that they should be able to appeal a California court’s decision to certify a proposed Class of 250 million individuals in a lawsuit alleging the company gouged consumers by hiking the price of a chip used in most cell phones.

A number of class action lawsuits alleging Qualcomm engaged in anticompetitive conduct hit the company after the Federal Trade Commission initiated an enforcement action against the company over allegations that the company used its 80 percent market share in cell phone tech to command higher prices. The cases were consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL) in 2017.

The proposed Class was certified in the Qualcomm MDL in October of this year. Consumers successfully argued that potentially hundreds of millions paid extra for their cell phones because of Qualcomm’s alleged antitrust activities.

Qualcomm, however, is urging the Ninth Circuit to revisit the decision, calling the litigation “quite likely the biggest class action in history.”

“Without holding a hearing, the district court in this action certified a class estimated to be the size of the entire adult population of the United States—around 250 million people—and one that encompasses approximately 1.2 billion transactions,” claims Qualcomm in its petition to the Ninth Circuit.

The company says that the proposed Class, as certified by the California federal court, is “simply too large and unwieldy to manage” and covers millions of consumers who suffered no harm from Qualcomm’s allegedly anticompetitive actions.

“Because this is — by far — the largest and most heterogeneous class ever certified in this circuit (and likely anywhere), the district court should have engaged in the most rigorous possible class certification analysis,” argued Qualcomm in its motion.

A nationwide Class should not have been certified in the Qualcomm class action lawsuit, claims the company, pointing out that each state will have a “strong interested in its policy judgments being respected.”

Further, contends Qualcomm, the effect of its allegedly anticompetitive conduct would have impacted consumers over the class period differently depending on when they purchased a cell phone.

“The antitrust impact, if any, felt by class members therefore varied widely depending on when and from whom they purchased a phone — a fact that destroys plaintiffs’ ability to show impact on all or nearly all class members through common evidence,” notes Qualcomm in its motion to the Ninth Circuit urging them to take the appeal.

The lead plaintiffs are represented by Kalpana Srinivasan, Marc M. Seltzer, Steven G. Sklaver, Amanda K. Bonn, Oleg Elkhunovich, Krysta Kauble Pachman and Joseph Grinstein of Susman Godfrey LLP, Joseph W. Cotchett, Adam J. Zapala, Brian Danitz, Mark F. Ram and Michael A. Montaño of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP and Steve W. Berman, Jeffrey D. Friedman and Rio S. Pierce of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

The Qualcomm Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Qualcomm Patent Licensing Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 5:17­-md­-02773, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Jan. 23, 2019, consumers who purchased a cell phone since Feb. 11, 2011, may be affected by a Qualcomm antitrust class action lawsuit pending in federal court. A settlement has not been reached and no money is available at this time. However, this litigation is being dubbed “quite likely the biggest class action in history,” and may affect the rights of more than 250 million cell phone owners. Learn more here.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 23, 2019, Qualcomm was granted an immediate appeal of a massive certified Class of cellphone owners involved in a class action lawsuit alleging the company overpriced chips ubiquitous in mobile devices. Qualcomm contends that the newly certified Class of about 250 million consumers is “simply too large and unwieldy to manage” in a petition to appeal the decision brought to the Ninth Circuit two-judge panel.