USA Today Co., Daily Mail General and Trust Plc and a class of roughly 5,000 publishers can seek more than $3.2 bn in damages from Alphabet Inc.’s Google over alleged harm from its conduct in advertising technology markets, a New York federal judge ruled, according to Bloomderg.
US District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan said jury trials can proceed on claims involving Google’s AdX advertising exchange. In an opinion issued Sept. 30, Castel rejected Google’s effort to challenge damage calculations presented by the publishers.
The publisher class will be allowed to pursue about $1.7 bn in damages. USA Today, which brought a separate case, can seek roughly $900 mn, while Daily Mail can pursue about $600 mn.
Google said the ruling also dismissed claims brought by some publishers that used a different advertising-buying tool. The company said it will defend the remaining claims in court.
Polly Grunfeld Sack, chief legal counsel at USA Today Co., said the ruling allows the publisher to pursue $1 bn in worldwide damages before potential trebling under US antitrust law. She described the decision as a significant result that narrows the issues ahead of trial.
Philip Korologos, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP representing the publishers, said the plaintiffs plan to present their claims to a jury and seek recovery of the alleged damages.
The litigation follows the US Justice Department’s 2023 antitrust case against Google, which was joined by a group of states. The government accused the company of illegally monopolizing parts of the advertising technology used to buy, sell and serve online display advertising.
A federal judge in Virginia later found that Google had illegally monopolized two ad tech markets. Last month, the court ordered Google to make its advertising technology interoperable with tools operated by competitors, but declined to require a breakup of the business.
The New York lawsuits seek monetary damages tied to the same conduct. Castel has not yet scheduled a trial date.
The case is In re: Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation, 21-md-3010, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
