By Nate Raymond

BOSTON, June 17 (Reuters) - EBay EBAY.O is once again facing the prospect of a trial in a lawsuit by a Massachusetts couple who fell victim to a bizarre stalking and harassment campaign carried out by several of its employees after the company failed to finalize a settlement.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston on Wednesday set a January 4 trial date in a lawsuit by David and Ina Steiner against the e-commerce company and three former executives after they were targeted by several former employees in retaliation for their coverage of eBay in a newsletter they publish.

She scheduled the trial after the Steiners in a Friday filing reported that they were unable to consummate a settlement that the defendants had in February agreed to in principle just days before their case was originally set to go to trial.

As a result, the Steiners asked Saris to reopen the case. Their lawsuit is seeking millions of dollars in compensatory damages plus $466 million in punitive damages, according to a court filing.

The defendants include eBay as well as former CEO Devin Wenig; Steve Wymer, eBay's former chief communications officer; and Wendy Jones, who previously served as senior vice president of global operations.

Neither Todd Garber, a lawyer for the Steiners, nor eBay's spokespeople responded to requests for comment.

The Steiners sued in 2021 after several former eBay workers were charged over their roles in an extensive harassment campaign against them in 2019 that involved sending the couple cockroaches, fly larvae and a bloody Halloween pig mask.

Several eBay workers traveled from California to Natick, Massachusetts, to surveil the Steiners and try to install a GPS tracking device on their car, prosecutors said.

Seven former eBay workers pleaded guilty and received sentences as high as 57 months in prison for their roles in the stalking campaign, which prosecutors said was aimed at silencing the Steiners after senior executives deemed their newsletter, EcommerceBytes, critical of the company.

Prosecutors and the Steiners alleged that the campaign against them began after Wenig in August 2019 texted Wymer that it was time to "take her down," referring to Ina Steiner.

San Jose, California-based eBay agreed in 2024 to pay $3 million and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors.

The Steiners' lawsuit accused eBay and Wenig and the other former executives of trespass, false imprisonment and violations of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act.

Wenig, a former Thomson Reuters executive who stepped down as eBay's CEO in September 2019, was never charged. His lawyers argued he had no knowledge of or involvement in the harassment campaign.

The case is Steiner v. eBay Inc, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 21-cv-11181.

For the Steiners: Todd Garber of Finkelstein, Blankinship, Frei-Pearson & Garber,

For eBay: Jack Pirozzolo of Sidley Austin

For Wenig: Abbe Lowell of Lowell & Associates, Kelly Librera of Winston & Strawn and Martin Weinberg of Martin G. Weinberg, P.C.

For Jones: Andrew O'Connor of Ropes & Gray

For Wymer: Melissa Mills of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

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