Uber In Big Trouble With Judge Presiding Over Waymo Case, ‘Misled The Court’

Anyone looking at the Uber/Waymo court battle can see that the cab-hailing firm is already at a huge disadvantage. Now, even the judge presiding over the case is starting to put some pressure on Uber. Apparently, U.S. District Judge William Alsup believes that the legal team representing the former startup “misled the court,” which is not a good sign for Uber.

The statement from Judge Alsup occurred in the midst of a heating exchange of arguments between counsels representing Waymo and Uber, Mercury News reports. The topic of discussion had to do with the documents that the Google autonomous driving division was demanding the ride-hailing firm to release.

“If you’re aware that you have stolen material, you need to disclose it. You need to produce it. And we’ve been asking from the outset of this case for them to produce these stolen documents,” Charles Verhoeven, Waymo’s lawyer said during the session.

Despite an actual court order to comply, Uber’s legal team refused to do so. This did not sit well with either the judge or Verhoeven. A series of exchanges involving raised voice ensued, which was quickly followed by Alsup’s own comment regarding the matter.

“I am concerned that Mr. Gonzalez failed to disclose that he had the documents and took a long time to come clean,” Judge Alsup said. “Maybe he can get on the stand and explain it away. But I am inclined … to tell the jury exactly this scenario: that he was ordered to come clean, did not come clean, ordered to come clean again, and did not come clean — finally in June or July came clean.”

When Uber’s own legal team fired back that the judge was being misled by inaccurate statements, judge Alsup replied by saying that the lawyers have been misleading the court the whole time, CNBC reports. He even threatened Uber’s main legal counsel Arturo Gonzalez on the stand to explain why they are taking so long to comply to the release of evidence.