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Judge investigates Apple case jury foreman

by on12 November 2012



Looking into misconduct


Federal District Judge Lucy Koh is investigating whether the jury foreman in Apple v. Samsung "concealed information" during the jury selection process and whether there was misconduct.

Koh said she will require Apple to disclose what information the company's lawyers knew about the jury foreman Velvin Hogan. Samsung is trying to get the $1 billion patent judgment that a San Jose, Calif. jury awarded Apple in August thrown out for, amongst other things, the jury foreman was biased and mislead his fellows.

Foreman Velvin Hogan didn't disclose during jury selection that he had been sued by Seagate, his former employer. Seagate and Samsung have a "substantial strategic relationship" yet the litigation with Seagate led Hogan to file for personal bankruptcy in 1993.
It's hard to overturn a jury decision for alleged misconduct because US law wants to keep the jury room sacred.

Hogan has said that the judge didn't ask for a complete listing of all the lawsuits in which he had been involved.

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