Google makes emergency request to block Texas antitrust lawsuit move

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Google asked a U.S. appeals court in New York on Tuesday to pause a decision to return an antitrust lawsuit filed by the state of Texas back to federal court in Texas.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in June granted the state’s request to send the lawsuit back to federal court in Texas. The lawsuit alleges that Google, a unit of Alphabet (NASDAQ:), abused its dominance in advertising technology.

The panel stayed the decision to give Google time to appeal its decision to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

After the lawsuit was filed in 2020, Google successfully petitioned for it to be moved from Texas to a federal court in New York, where other advertising technology cases were being heard.

But Texas convinced the judicial panel to move the case back to Texas, citing a measure that became law last year which gave state attorneys general the right to choose where an antitrust lawsuit will be litigated. The federal court in Texas has a reputation for moving quickly.

Google has argued that the law is not retroactive.

The search and advertising giant, which also makes a smartphone operating system and owns YouTube, faces antitrust lawsuits around the world that mostly allege abuse of dominance of one sort or another. Alphabet has denied any wrongdoing.