(Bloomberg) — A Superior Court judge dismissed Washington, D.C.’s lawsuit accusing Amazon.com Inc. of anticompetitive behavior, saying there wasn’t evidence supporting the claim that the e-commerce giant inflated prices for consumers.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Attorney General Karl Racine sued Amazon last year, alleging it encourages higher-than-necessary consumer prices through policies that guarantee the tech giant a minimum profit on each item sold, while discouraging the site’s merchants from offering their products at lower prices elsewhere.
The judge found a lack of evidence to support the assertion that Amazon inflated prices for consumers, according to Law360. Amazon. through a spokesman, declined to comment.
“We believe that the Superior Court got this wrong,” Racine’s office said in an email. “Its oral ruling did not seem to consider the detailed allegations in the complaint, the full scope of the anticompetitive agreements, the extensive briefing and a recent decision of a federal court to allow a nearly identical lawsuit to move forward.”
Amazon is among big technology companies facing antitrust scrutiny given the size of its business. Federal regulators and the House Judiciary Committee are examining Amazon’s business practices and a lawsuit similar to one filed in Washington, D.C., is proceeding in Seattle. In January, Amazon agreed to pay Washington state $2.25 million and shut down its “Sold by Amazon” program following an investigation by the state attorney general into alleged price fixing on the site.
Price fixing allegations have haunted Amazon for years. An Amazon merchant accused the company of forcing up prices on competing websites in a 2019 letter to federal regulators obtained by Bloomberg.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Add Comment