US lawsuit challenging JetBlue's Spirit deal assigned to new judge

The US Justice Department's lawsuit seeking to halt JetBlue Airways Corp's planned $3.8b acquisition of ultra-low cost carrier Spirit Airlines was reassigned on Wednesday to a judge known for trying to speed cases along to trial. US District Judge William Young in Boston was randomly assigned the case despite the Justice Department's contention that the lawsuit should be heard by another judge who is overseeing a separate antitrust case involving JetBlue. That case brought by the Justice Department seeks to force American Airlines and JetBlue to scrap their US Northeast partnership because it would mean higher prices for consumers. US District Judge Leo Sorokin presided over a trial last year in that case but has not yet issued a ruling. The Justice Department on Tuesday argued that Sorokin should hear the Spirit case as well because both involved "an assessment of JetBlue's network plans, aircraft orders and configurations, and pricing strategy."<br/>Sorokin, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, on Wednesday in a brief order said the Spirit case was wrongly assigned to him because it was "incorrectly marked as related and thus not randomly assigned." It was then assigned to Young, a veteran jurist known for setting quick schedules to get cases to trial. Young, appointed by Republican former President Ronald Reagan, has served on the bench since 1985.<br/>