Apple is close to agreeing to a deal regarding a series of long-running e-book price fixing lawsuits, but United States District Judge Denise Cote is not quite sure that the current deal is the best option for consumers.

A year ago, Cote found Apple guilty of playing a role in an illegal conspiracy to raise e-book prices online. At that point, the case in question had been brewing for over a year, ever since the United States Department of Justice had filed suit against Apple and five of the “Big Six” American publishers – HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster – claiming that they had conspired and collaborated on an e-book price fixing scheme. Similar state-level lawsuits were filed around the same time.

The publishers, not wishing to do battle with the government, settled with the Department of Justice out of court. Apple, however, vigorously denied the allegations and opted to go to federal trial. The case was one of the big stories of last summer, and though it ended with a guilty verdict for Apple, the company has only continued to maintain its innocence. Now, according to a report from PC Magazine, Apple is almost ready to agree to a $450 million settlement that would clear all state-level cases, compensate members of an existing class-action suit, and pay the lawyers of the class suit – but only if it loses a federal appeal over last summer’s verdict.

Cote is not a fan of that particular fine-print condition, since a victory for Apple would get the company off the hook of having to pay and would leave consumers out to dry. However, Steve Berman, who is the lawyer representing consumers in the price fixing class-action suit, is a good deal less concerned than Cote. He thinks that the chances of Apple winning the appeal are slim to none, and that Cote should spring at the chance to get the guilt-denying corporation to agree to a settlement.

Ultimately though, it will be up to Cote to decide whether or not the Apple’s consumer settlement plan gets approved.