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According to complaints filed on Friday, Energizer agreed "under pressure from Walmart" to inflate wholesale battery prices for other retailers starting around January 2018, and require those retailers not to undercut Walmart on price. Walmart rivals allegedly risked higher wholesale prices or being cut off by Energizer, the largest U.S. disposable battery maker, if they charged less at checkout than Walmart, the world's largest retailer. According to the plaintiffs, Energizer's share of the U.S. disposable battery market has risen to more than 50% from 40% in 2018. The cases in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, are: Copeland et al v Energizer Holdings Inc et al, No. 23-02091, and Schuman et al v Energizer Holdings Inc et al, No.

The prospective class action complaint, filed in 2021 by two members of the annual paid subscription service Amazon Prime, alleged Amazon was unlawfully "tying" the online sale of third-party products to the use of the company's "Fulfillment by Amazon" program. The lawsuit said Amazon's alleged anticompetitive fulfillment practices had harmed "hundreds of millions of its loyal customers." Amazon's attorneys argued that fulfillment services are sold not to consumers who buy products but to third-party businesses that are selling goods on the company's platform. The antitrust case against Amazon was among private and state actions alleging violations of competition law. The case is Angela Hogan et al v. Amazon.com Inc, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, No.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge in Washington on Thursday denied former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo's bid to block his extradition to Peru, where he faces corruption charges. His lawyers had filed for an emergency stay earlier in the day to block his extradition, which was planned for Friday. "His emergency motion to stay is denied," U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said in an order on Thursday. In her ruling, Howell said Toledo "has long been afforded substantial process" in the U.S. courts to contest his extradition. Howell, citing various legal factors, also said Toledo had failed to "demonstrate entitlement" to a stay of his extradition.

CompaniesCompanies Law Firms Grail Inc FollowIllumina Inc Follow(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said it will accelerate reviewing Illumina Inc's challenge to a federal agency order requiring the biotechnology company to divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail LLC. The agency said Illumina had not shown why the appeals court needed to speed up its consideration of the antitrust dispute. San Diego-based Illumina, which specializes in gene sequencing, is appealing an April 3 FTC order that said the company's $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail will curb competition in the cancer-testing market. The FTC in 2021 sued Illumina over its bid for Grail, a former subsidiary of the company. The case is Illumina Inc and Grail Inc v. Federal Trade Commission, 5th U.S.

Lawyers for Kroger said in a filing in California federal court that the grocery store shoppers who sued over the deal have failed to define the relevant market necessary to evaluate grocery store competition and to identify how the acquisition would hurt consumers. The attorneys said the lawsuit was lacking "real-world facts." U.S. competition law "does not turn every grocery store consumer in the country into a roving antitrust enforcer," lawyers for Kroger told U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. State antitrust enforcers also are looking at the deal. The case is Whalen v The Kroger Co, Albertsons Companies Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

April 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday approved a $75 million settlement between Smithfield Foods Inc and a class of consumers who accused the pork producer of conspiring to restrict supply in order to keep prices artificially high. Pork consumers last year settled with Smithfield rival JBS SA for $20 million. The judge in a separate order on Tuesday awarded nearly $25 million in legal fees to the plaintiffs firms representing the consumer class. The consumer class attorneys said in a court filing in January that they'd spent more than 37,000 hours pursuing antitrust claims over four years. The case is In re Pork Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, No.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley dismissed the plaintiffs' first complaint in March after finding it failed to present enough information to back claims the acquisition would harm industry competition. The judge said at the time the plaintiffs could refile a new suit, which challenges the largest-ever video game industry deal. Lawyers for Microsoft said in a court filing last week that the gamers' original case "relied largely on flawed legal arguments based on outdated Supreme Court cases." The plaintiffs' lawyers have served subpoenas on companies including Activision and rivals including Nintendo of America Inc and Sony. The case is Demartini v. Microsoft, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 3:22-cv-08991-JSC.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 7 (Reuters) - A California Tesla owner on Friday sued the electric carmaker in a prospective class action lawsuit accusing it of violating the privacy of customers. "Tesla needs to be held accountable for these invasions and for misrepresenting its lax privacy practices to him and other Tesla owners," Fitzgerald said. It said Yeh was filing the complaint "against Tesla on behalf of himself, similarly-situated class members, and the general public." Reuters reported that some Tesla employees could see customers "doing laundry and really intimate things. The lawsuit asks the court "to enjoin Tesla from engaging in its wrongful behavior, including violating the privacy of customers and others, and to recover actual and punitive damages."

April 7 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday halted federal regulators' approval of the abortion pill mifepristone while a legal challenge proceeds, partially granting a request by anti-abortion groups and dealing another setback to abortion rights in the United States. A White House official said they are reviewing the abortion ruling. Kacsmaryk's ruling is a preliminary injunction that would essentially ban sales of mifepristone while the case before him continues. Some abortion providers have said that if mifepristone is unavailable, they would switch to a regimen using only misoprostol for a medication abortion. During the hearing in the case, the judge raised questions about the regulatory process used by the FDA.

Adding to the volatile legal landscape around abortion, a federal judge in Washington state on Friday issued a seemingly conflicting injunction that prevented federal regulators from altering access to the same abortion drug. Kacsmaryk's ruling is a preliminary injunction that would essentially ban sales of mifepristone while the case by anti-abortion groups before him continues. By choosing to sue in Amarillo, the plaintiffs ensured that the case would go before Kacsmaryk, a conservative former Christian activist. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a conservative reputation, with more than two-thirds of its judges appointed by Republican presidents. The FDA in January said that the government for the first time will allow mifepristone to be dispensed at retail pharmacies.

Two former college athletes filed the complaint against the NCAA, which is the governing body for U.S. intercollegiate sports, and a group of its member conferences. The lawsuit alleged an unlawful conspiracy to bar cash awards for academic success. The suit seeks to represent a class of "thousands" of current and former student athletes who competed on a Division I team starting in April 2019, before the academic awards were permitted. The complaint said the NCAA, its league conferences and member schools "generate billions of dollars a year in revenues from Division I sports." The plaintiffs "did not receive the academic achievement awards that they would have received in a competitive market," the complaint alleges.

"Phhhoto has failed in its 69-page amended complaint of 222 paragraphs to allege sufficient facts that cure the untimeliness of all of its federal claims," Matsumoto wrote. The court declined to allow Phhhoto to fine-tune its case and bring another complaint. Phhhoto's lawsuit, filed in 2021, alleged Facebook aimed to "crush" the photo-sharing application, which called itself in court filings "an innovative nascent competitor." Facebook is defending against claims from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., federal court that the company abused its personal social networking dominance. The case is Phhhoto Inc v Meta Platforms, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, No.

In the data privacy case, Google has said its Chrome browser users consented to the company's data collection. The sanction in the data privacy action is not the first time Van Keulen has punished Google in the same case. The new sanctions order and the prior one from May 2022 addressed internal Google evidence concerning consumer use of the company's private browsing mode. Google, according to the judge's order, will be barred from relying on certain employee witnesses in the case. Van Keulen also said Google must pay fees associated with two experts working for the plaintiffs, and must also pay a $79,000 fine.

Companies Re/Max Holdings Inc FollowMarch 29 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Chicago on Wednesday ruled that home sellers accusing the National Association of Realtors and a group of real estate brokerages of conspiring to inflate commission rates can move forward as a class action. In a statement, The National Association of Realtors said it was "disappointed" in the decision and defended industry listing practices. The lawsuit challenges a requirement that sellers make "blanket unilateral offers of compensation" to buyers' brokers when a home goes on sale via a multiple listing service. That system puts pressure on sellers to offer high commissions to attract buyers' brokers, the sellers claimed. The case is Moehrl et al v. The National Association of Realtors et al, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No.

U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco said in his order that Google "fell strikingly short" in its duties to preserve records. Separately, the plaintiffs will have a chance to urge Donato to tell jurors that Google destroyed information that was unfavorable to it. The lawyers said Google was deleting chat records every 24 hours and "did so even after this litigation commenced." Google is separately fighting claims in a U.S. Justice Department antitrust case in Washington, D.C., federal court of destroyed chat records. The case is In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

[1/2] The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, January 5, 2023. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle on Friday came in a prospective antitrust class action that has estimated damages of between $55 billion to $172 billion. Amazon has denied the plaintiffs' claims, arguing that its "Fair Pricing Policy" has procompetitive benefits and that U.S. antitrust law encourages such a policy. Attorneys general in California and Washington, D.C., also have sued Amazon over pricing policies. The case is Frame-Wilson et al v. Amazon.com Inc, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, No.

Companies Google Inc FollowAlphabet Inc FollowMarch 24 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday set a fast-paced schedule in the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit challenging Google LLC's digital advertising technology practices, moving the case along more quickly than either side had proposed. A Justice Department spokesperson and a representative from Google had no comment on Friday. The Justice Department and eight states filed the case in January, seeking to force Google to sell its ad manager suite, claiming that the company unlawfully curbed competition over advertising technology. The case is one of two Justice Department antitrust actions against Google. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, assigned to the digital advertising case, will preside at the January pretrial conference.

"Plaintiffs' general allegation that the merger may cause 'higher prices, less innovation, less creativity, less consumer choice, decreased output, and other potential anticompetitive effects' is insufficient," wrote U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Corley. The decision does not affect the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) regulatory challenge to the largest-ever gaming industry deal. Microsoft announced its bid last year, and it also faces competition scrutiny in the EU and UK. A spokesperson for Microsoft and lawyers for the company did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The case is Demartini v. Microsoft Corp, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 3:22-cv-08991.

March 20 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google has denied intentionally destroying evidence in the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit over the company's search business, in a response to the government's bid for sanctions in federal court. The Justice Department last month alleged Google failed to preserve certain internal corporate "chat" communications. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on Monday. Mehta last year denied an earlier Justice Department bid for sanctions against Google over claims it was shielding too many documents from review. The case is United States v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No.

"Tesla needs to open up its ecosystem and allow competition for the servicing of Tesla [vehicles] and sales of parts," said plaintiffs lawyer Matthew Ruan of Freed Kanner London & Millen, who filed one of the proposed class actions. The proposed class in both cases would include anyone who has paid Tesla for repairs or parts since March 2019. Ruan said the potential class includes hundreds of thousands of Tesla owners and lessees, so damages could total hundreds of millions of dollars. Tesla joins other major vehicle makers facing "right to repair" antitrust litigation over alleged exclusionary conduct. Read more:Harley-Davidson hit with class actions over 'right to repair' restrictionsU.S. FTC settles with Weber grills over 'right to repair'FTC votes to make 'right to repair' a priority, drops 1995 merger policyReporting by Mike ScarcellaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"Meta's discovery gluttony confirms its request of eBay is not worthy of the burden Meta seeks to impose," eBay's lawyers told the California court. EBay's Quinn Emanuel attorneys derided Meta as a "litigant that has completely disregarded the bounds of reason and proportionality" in seeking information from third parties. A representative from eBay and its attorneys at Quinn Emanuel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for eBay contend the company doesn't compete with Meta on social networking but does face off over the Facebook Marketplace e-commerce service. The case is Federal Trade Commission v. Meta Platforms Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

JetBlue will face "an uphill battle" as it fights the government," said Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute. "If I'm JetBlue, that's where I focus right now, developing that divestiture offer and lining up a buyer to 'litigate the fix,'" said Dryden. Whatever arguments JetBlue uses, a court fight could last six to eight months and cost tens of millions of dollars in attorney fees, legal experts said. Bill Baer, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division under former President Barack Obama, said the government's complaint "shows that there is meaningful competition between Spirit and JetBlue." "JetBlue brags about the 'JetBlue effect,' where they enter a market and fares tend to go down," he said.

☆ U.S. Justice Dept opposes Google bid to move advertising antitrust case to New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Mike Scarcella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The case, alleging anticompetitive abuses of advertising technology, was filed in January in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court and threatens to break up a key part of Google's business. But moving the case to the Southern District of New York won't eliminate the chance of divergent trial judgments or appellate decisions, the DOJ's lawyers said. The cases consolidated in New York can return to their originating district courts for trial, the government told Brinkema. In its bid seeking to get the DOJ case to New York, Google's lawyers said the government's "case lags far behind other pending ad tech antitrust cases" and "adds nothing of substance to those earlier-filed cases." The case is United States et al v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 1:23-cv-00108-LMB-IDD.

REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoMarch 3 (Reuters) - Urban scooter company Lime sued Hertz Corp on Thursday alleging unfair competition and accusing the rental car giant of improperly hiring the startup's senior engineers. The loss of engineers has "significantly harmed" Lime, which provides short-term e-bike and scooter rentals in about 30 countries. Hertz Corp, which operates the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty vehicle rental brands, is a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ.O). Cong, now at Hertz, did not immediately respond on Friday to a message seeking comment. A representative from Lime did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Companies Google Inc FollowAlphabet Inc FollowMarch 2 (Reuters) - Consumers suing Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google LLC over its data collection practices have lost their early appeal to pursue money damages as a class action seeking billions of dollars. Plaintiffs sued Google in 2020, claiming that Google continued to collect data from users despite their use of private-browsing in Chrome's "Incognito" mode. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday rejected the plaintiffs' bid to appeal a lower court decision last year that denied class action status for money damages claims against Google. The damages class would include at least "tens of millions" of Google browser users, court filings indicate. Google has denied that it deceived anyone over private-browsing, saying its Chrome browser users consented to the company's data collection.

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