Google faces March 2025 trial in Texas’ antitrust lawsuit

By Mike Scarcella Jan 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has scheduled a March 2025 trial in a lawsuit lodged by Texas and other states accusing Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) of abusing its market dominance for advertising technology systems. U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan in an order on Tuesday said jury selection for the estimated four-week federal trial would begin on March 31, 2025, in Plano, Texas, near Dallas. Attorneys for Texas had asked Jordan to set an August 2024 trial, arguing that delay was “allowing Google to abuse its market power for longer, at the expense of American consumers.” Google’s lawyers said they wanted a trial after April 2025. Google declined to comment on Wednesday about the trial plans. The company has denied any wrongdoing and called Texas’ case “deeply flawed.” Plaintiffs attorney W. Mark Lanier, a lead attorney for Texas and the states, said “we appreciate the court’s rigorous schedule and anticipate being ready for trial on the date given.” The lawsuit from Texas and 16 other states is among three related legal proceedings in U.S. federal courts challenging Google’s digital ad practices. The Texas coalition, which sued in 2020, accused Google of violating antitrust laws to curb competition for digital advertising and boost its business. Advertisers, publishers and small businesses are pressing similar claims in a separate coordinated legal proceeding in Manhattan, and the U.S. Justice Department last year sued Google in Alexandria, Virginia. A trial in the Virginia case could be held later this year before U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who last year told the attorneys in the case they “need to have your running shoes on.” Apart from the digital advertising cases, Google is already on trial in Washington, D.C., federal court, where a U.S. judge heard antitrust claims last year from the Justice Department over allegations that Google has paid billions of dollars to tech companies to unlawfully maintain its dominance for online search. Closing arguments at the non-jury trial are set for May. In California, Google soon will face off with “Fortnite” maker Epic Games over its bid for a court order that could force Google to make changes to its app store Play. A jury in December ruled Google had unlawfully harmed competition. Google last month in a related lawsuit said it would pay $700 million to resolve Play store claims from U.S. states and consumers, in addition to implementing new or expanded features in its app store to allow for greater competition. The case is State of Texas et al v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No. 4:20-cv-00957-SDJ. For plaintiffs: W. Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm; and Ashley Keller of Keller Postman For defendant: R. Paul Yetter of Yetter Coleman; Eric Mahr of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; and Daniel Bitton of Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider Read more: Google to pay $700 million to US consumers, states in Play store settlement Judge deciding Google’s fate in Epic case is antitrust veteran Google can keep law firm Paul Weiss in DOJ case, US judge rules Google must face most of Texas lawsuit over ad dominance, judge rules