MANY OF THE 18 co-plaintiff states agreed late Sunday to seek changes on a dozen specific points in the proposed settlement, lawyers close to the deliberations said. But it was uncertain Sunday night whether all the states would act together if efforts to work through the mediator fail. Most still hoped to be a part of a settlement if its terms can be tightened, the lawyers said. Their position is a setback for the settlement disclosed Friday, when state officials stood alongside Justice Department antitrust chief Charles James on the steps of the U.S. courthouse here and said they hoped an agreement could bring an end to the 3-year-old case. A final version of the highly technical deal was hammered out between Wednesday and Friday by a Microsoft attorney and James, largely excluding career Justice Department staff who had worked on the case, as well as state officials, the lawyers close to the case said.
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