Judge In Nokia and Apple Lawsuit Owned Apple Stock During Proceedings (appleinsider.com) 31
A federal judge was recently found to have owned Apple stock while presiding over a case brought against the tech giant by Nokia, though the discovery is unlikely to lead to further legal action. AppleInsider reports: Apple and Nokia were embroiled in a bitter patent dispute from 2009 to 2011, with both companies filing a series of legal complaints and regulatory challenges as competition in the smartphone market came to a head. The issue was ultimately settled in June 2011, and while terms of the agreement were kept confidential, Apple was expected to make amends with a one-time payment and ongoing royalties. According to a new court filing on Monday, a federal judge presiding over one of many scattershot legal volleys filed by Nokia owned stock in Apple when the suit was lodged in 2010. Judge William M. Conley of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin disclosed the potential conflict of interest in a letter to both parties dated Aug. 27.
"Judge Conley informed me that it has been brought to his attention that while he presided over the case he owned stock in Apple," writes Joel Turner, the court's chief deputy clerk. "His ownership of stock neither affected nor impacted his decisions in this case." It is unclear how many shares Judge Conley possessed during the case, but ownership of company stock in any capacity would have required his recusal under the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. An advisory from the Judicial Conference Codes of Conduct Committee explains that disqualifying factors should be reported "as soon as those facts are learned," even if the realization occurs after a judge issues a decision.
"The parties may then determine what relief they may seek and a court (without the disqualified judge) will decide the legal consequence, if any, arising from the participation of the disqualified judge in the entered decision," Advisory Opinion 71 reads, as relayed by Turner. Apple and Nokia are invited to respond to Conley's disclosure by Oct. 27 should they wish to seek redress, though the companies are unlikely to take action considering the case was not a lynchpin in Nokia's overarching strategy.
"Judge Conley informed me that it has been brought to his attention that while he presided over the case he owned stock in Apple," writes Joel Turner, the court's chief deputy clerk. "His ownership of stock neither affected nor impacted his decisions in this case." It is unclear how many shares Judge Conley possessed during the case, but ownership of company stock in any capacity would have required his recusal under the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. An advisory from the Judicial Conference Codes of Conduct Committee explains that disqualifying factors should be reported "as soon as those facts are learned," even if the realization occurs after a judge issues a decision.
"The parties may then determine what relief they may seek and a court (without the disqualified judge) will decide the legal consequence, if any, arising from the participation of the disqualified judge in the entered decision," Advisory Opinion 71 reads, as relayed by Turner. Apple and Nokia are invited to respond to Conley's disclosure by Oct. 27 should they wish to seek redress, though the companies are unlikely to take action considering the case was not a lynchpin in Nokia's overarching strategy.
If the judge is reporting it now, he probably (Score:5, Insightful)
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Did not realize his ownership of AAPL stock. Maybe it was a managed wealth fund vehicle, a hedge fund basket, or some other financial vehicle that he didn't pay attention to the salient details.
True, as someone mentioned in the comments of TFA, the Apple stock could have simply been part of a mutual fund. How many of people comb through fund info to check *all* the individual stocks? Admittedly, Apple is one people probably wouldn't fail to notice, but that would imply actually looking and the judge's funds could have been managed by someone else.
In any case, Nokia won, so they're probably not going to complain much at this point.
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Certainly. Making it a nothing-burger.
He won't get fined, at worst he'll get a reprimand. He hardly even participated, since they settled. He may have ruled on some early discovery issues, that's it.
If it was a direct investment and he didn't report it before, he wouldn't be reporting it now.
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He hardly even participated, since they settled. He may have ruled on some early discovery issues, that's it.
That is a very optimistic view. Settlement can happen pretty much at any time during a case.
Now, I don't know this specific case, but it is possible that Nokia took an earlier settlement offer from Apple after the judge had sent signals that he might rule in Apples favor. In that case his owning Apple stock would absolutely be relevant.
Once again: I don't know the details of this case so I don't know if that happened. It probably didn't. But saying that it doesn't matter because the parties settled is just
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I'm not so sure any action is warranted in this case as long as he reported it as soon as he realized (which seems likely). Ultimately, the matter was settled out of court in Nokia's favor.
Following the forms, Nokia and Apple are entitled to seek redress but there's nothing to seek here. The ownership would have favored Apple had he known, so they have no complaint, and Nokia won in an out of court settlement, so they have no cause to complain.
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This is the most probable scenario. It's hard to argue that he was intentionally trying to profit by influencing the settlement, given that Apple ultimately lost.
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Saw the statute of limitations was up.
Re: If the judge is reporting it now, he probably (Score:2)
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Perhaps the judge didn't revoke custody as punishment but rather out of the best interest of the child?
Interesting that you have done exactly the same thing you criticize the judge for doing, absent any evidence that the judge actually did that.
Re: If the judge is reporting it now, he probably (Score:2)
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
https://www.google.com/amp/s/t... [google.com]
Literally dozens of articles to choose from. The two legal exemptions from mandates are 1) medical risk 2) strong religious belief. When she voiced that doing so would be against medical advice, he overstepped his authority. Had she claimed some religious belief and he revoked custody it would have immediately landed in a federal appeals court on constitutional violations. He could have asked for a d
Re: If the judge is reporting it now, he probabl (Score:1)
Re: If the judge is reporting it now, he probab (Score:2)
Re: If the judge is reporting it now, he proba (Score:1)
Was he Trump appointed? (Score:2)
For an honorable judge it is not really an issue and one shouldn't see a conflict in the ruling; but for some lawyers, they will argue against the most secure election ever.
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Shares Owned (Score:1)
>It is unclear how many shares Judge Conley possessed during the case, but ...
If you don't even know the magnitude of the number, it's not even unclear; just say it's unknown.
Donate? (Score:2)
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That wouldn't make amends. Either his participation skewed the outcome, in which case a judicial response is required, or it didn't in which case he's got nothing to make amends for.
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That’s fine when you’re a celebrity who makes a public gaffe where no one was specifically harmed, in which case a donation “makes amends” with the public, but not so much when you’re a judge whose decisions can cause specific harm to involved parties. They aren’t made whole by that donation.
Why are judges presiding... (Score:2)
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One of the reasons Capitalist-Democratic systems are stable and workable is that all citizens are fully autonomous actors in both the economy and politics. Judges, politicians, police and dog catchers are all consumers,
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There's a difference between being allowed to participate in the stock market, and being allowed to try cases over which someone has a financial interest in the outcome. Surely this is not that difficult of a concept to grasp.
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In this specific case it looks like a good faith oversight that could not have affected his judgement.
Is that a fact? What is a fact is that he failed to do the due diligence required of him before presiding over a case in a court of law.
There's a difference between consuming goods & services & owning & profiting from owning percentages of the companies that provide them. It's a clear & straightforward distinction so your argument doesn't hold water.
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It's not called "gambling", it's called "investing in the stock market". You know, the vehicle where people with available money support companies develop?
We all do (Score:1)
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Exactly. Don't even see how this is news. If you're an investor with any diversification at all, you own APPL, either directly or in any number of mutual funds or ETFs. It's almost unavoidable unless you're trying really hard.