On Friday, November 21, 2025, Law.com reported that Unlockd Media, a defunct advertising technology company, had become the second entity to request U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr.’s recusal from an antitrust case involving Google. The request, filed in the Northern District of California, cites Gilliam’s alleged failure to disclose a long-standing personal relationship with Cassandra Knight, Google’s Vice President for Litigation and Discovery.
Unlockd Media’s motion mirrors a similar demand made by video streaming platform Rumble weeks prior. Both companies initiated separate antitrust lawsuits against Google in 2021, accusing the tech giant of leveraging its market dominance to harm their businesses.
The recusal motions stem from a July 2025 Stanford Lawyer profile of Knight, which detailed her friendship with Gilliam dating back to their time as Stanford Law School classmates in the early 1990s. The article revealed that Gilliam officiated Knight’s wedding in 2021 and that Knight attended his investiture as a federal judge in 2015, even foregoing tickets to the French Open semifinals to do so.
The article also quoted Gilliam acknowledging the significance of Knight’s presence at his investiture. Furthermore, the two reportedly participate in a fantasy football league together, suggesting continued contact.
Neither Judge Gilliam nor counsel for Unlockd Media and Rumble have offered comments on the matter.
Allan Diamond, a partner at Diamond McCarthy representing Unlockd, stated in a court declaration that he learned of the relationship through co-counsel Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, who also represent Rumble and are collaborating with Competition & Technology Law Group.
Both companies have expressed confusion in court filings regarding Gilliam’s failure to disclose the relationship, particularly given his recusal from at least 11 prior lawsuits involving Google since Knight joined the company in August 2022. Knight previously served as Chief Litigation Counsel at PayPal since 2017.
Notably, Gilliam also recused himself from a 2019 lawsuit involving PayPal, although the reasons for these recusals, including those involving Google cases, were not specified.
The lawsuits filed by Rumble in February 2021 and Unlockd in September 2021 both predate Knight’s employment at Google. However, both cases gained traction after Google responded to the suits in September 2022, one month after Knight’s arrival.
Rumble’s lawsuit alleged that Google unfairly promoted its streaming platform, YouTube, through its search engine, while Unlockd claimed that Google’s actions, including banning the company from its app store and AdMob, led to its demise. Gilliam granted Google’s motion for summary judgment in the Rumble case in May 2025, citing the statute of limitations, and dismissed Unlockd’s case in February 2025, deeming it based on “unsupported conclusions.” Both companies are appealing these decisions to the Ninth Circuit.
The recusal motions invoke 28 U.S.C. 455(a), which requires judges to recuse themselves when their impartiality “might reasonably be questioned.” The companies argue that the appearance of partiality, coupled with Gilliam’s prior recusals in Google-related cases, necessitates his removal from the current antitrust case.
Unlockd and Rumble are seeking indicative rulings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 62.1. Judge Gilliam has scheduled a hearing for January 22 to address the recusal motions.
Source: Law.com
