Trial Proves Costly for Judge in Microsoft Case
WASHINGTON — The Microsoft antitrust trial proved an expensive experience for the trial judge. She sold her family’s technology stocks during a faltering economic period last year to abide by ethics rules, according to the judge’s latest financial records.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, whose overall holdings still approach $1 million, took extraordinary losses last year in some of those trades, which occurred during a serious slump in the technology sector.
The judge purchased up to $15,000 worth of stock in Sun Microsystems Inc., one of Microsoft’s fiercest rivals, in January when its price closed at $30.88, records show. Sun developed the Java programming technology that a U.S. appeals court determined was the victim of an illegal Microsoft campaign to undermine its popularity.
But weeks after her appointment in a courthouse lottery as the new Microsoft trial judge in August last year -- and facing ethics rules against such ownership -- she unloaded Sun when the price had plunged to $10.95.
Likewise, the judge purchased up to $15,000 in shares of Compaq Computer Corp. in January, when the price was $15.78. But when she sold her shares, also weeks after her new appointment, Compaq’s price had fallen to $8.52.
Compaq, now owned by Hewlett Packard Co., has been a close ally of Microsoft’s and gains new freedom in how it can sell computers loaded with the company’s Windows software.
The judge had previously said she sold technology holdings worth $45,000 to $65,000 between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28 of last year to avoid potential ethics conflicts. Details of those trades were unavailable until she filed these latest disclosure documents with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Executives or employees from Sun and Compaq testified before the original trial judge in the case, Thomas Penfield Jackson.
Kollar-Kotelly, who was named to replace Jackson, did not report owning any Microsoft stock.
Both U.S. law and federal ethics rules prohibit judges from ruling in cases in which they have a financial interest that could be substantially affected.
