Plaintiff Problem in Apple Antitrust Class

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) - Attorneys suing Apple in a decade-old antitrust case lost two lead plaintiffs in the middle of trial - but they have backups, they told a federal judge on Tuesday.

Class attorneys submitted five replacement options for a new lead plaintiff Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

"We believe these people will satisfy all the requirements to be adequate class representatives," attorney Patrick Coughlin told U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

The class action claims that certain iTunes updates prevented iPod users from playing music bought from competing music services.

The trial, now on its seventh day, could be delayed for a few days as attorneys vet the potential plaintiffs.

The plaintiff dilemma began last week, when class attorneys dismissed one of the lead plaintiffs because she didn't purchase an iPod within the 2006 to 2009 class period. On Monday Rogers dismissed the remaining plaintiff for the same reason, and told class attorneys to find a replacement by Tuesday.

On Tuesday Apple's attorney William Isaacson, with Boies, Schiller & Flexner, asked Rogers to dismiss two of the potential replacements because they were not submitted until Tuesday morning.

"There's no excuse for this," he said.

Rogers denied the request, but appeared frustrated at the situation.

"I will consider the additional two, but it is done," she said. "There is no one else."

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