Apple reached a settlement with U.S. states and consumers seeking damages over the company’s fixing of electronic book prices, avoiding a trial in which it faced as much as $840 million in claims. The trial set for July involved cases related to a ruling last year that company had orchestrated an illegal scheme with publishers to raise e-book prices. A federal judge in Manhattan today ordered Apple and its adversaries to submit a filing seeking approval of their accord within one month. Details of the agreement weren’t disclosed. The U.S. government sued Apple and five of the biggest publishers in April 2012, claiming the maker of the iPad pushed them to sign agreements letting it sell digital copies of their books under a pricing model that made most e-books more expensive. Under the contracts, the publishers set book prices, with Apple getting 30 percent.