Court to consider possible juror bias in Apple v. Samsung
updated 11:00 am EST, Fri November 9, 2012
Samsung suggests juror might have had anti-Samsung feelings
US District Judge Lucy Koh will consider claims of possible jury bias during the recent Apple v. Samsung lawsuit in a hearing set for December 6th, reports say. Samsung has been urging the court to look into one juror, Velvin Hogan, who it alleges hid information about a history with Seagate. Samsung says it has a "substantial strategic relationship" with Seagate, and that during jury selection Hogan didn't reveal that he had been sued by the latter company, his one-time employer. Because of the suit Hogan was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1993.
Samsung invested in Seagate shares in 2011 in exchange for selling off its hard drive business. Further complicating the situation is that the lawyer who represented Seagate against Hogan is said to be married to a lawyer who works for Urquhart & Sullivan, the firm that represented Samsung in its conflict with Apple.
In a counter-motion Apple calls Samsung's claims a "convoluted theory," and rejects the idea that Hogan might want to "exact revenge" on a Seagate shareholder and the spouse of a lawyer who sued him some 19 years ago. "Samsung’s theory fails on the merits because the decades-old Seagate dispute has nothing to do with this case and would not have supported challenge for cause, and Samsung has not shown that Mr. Hogan’s responses were 'dishonest' and 'material,' as Supreme Court precedent requires," Apple writes. The company adds that Samsung lawyers had a duty to interview and approve jury members.
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There will always be jury bias no matter how unbiased a juror tries to be. We're all humans and we all have biases. There's no way to find any unbiased juror; it's impossible. As Apple states, Samsung had their opportunity to question all jurors and I remember reading that they knew of Mr. Hogan's previous court dealings so they had the opportunity to have him removed and didn't. Samsung just has to live with their failures and move on.