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In an interesting turn of events, Google is not going to face a jury trial in the antitrust lawsuit brought by the US government. Reuters reports that the search engine giant has paid back the full amount of monetary damages sought by the Department of Justice in the lawsuit.
Google pays back the monetary damages sought by the DOJ to avoid jury trial
The antitrust lawsuit by the Department of Justice and eight states in the US sought to break up the search titan’s alleged ad tech monopoly. The Justice Department set a damages claim in the lawsuit and sought a trial by jury. However, Reuters reports that a jury trial won’t take place as Google filed a copy of a $2.3 million check. It will be enough to cover the monetary damages sought by the government three times, including interest, if necessary.
It’s worth mentioning that the US government initially claimed over $100 million in damages in the lawsuit. However, the Justice Department later requested less than $1 million while seeking a jury trial.
Google has allegedly paid the monetary damages without admitting any liability or wrongdoing. ”Contrived damages claim has disintegrated,” the company said in a statement on Friday, calling the case a ”meritless attempt to pick winners and losers in a highly competitive industry”, adds the report.
The bench trial is scheduled for September 9th
The US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia ruled on the matter on Friday. She has now set a non-jury bench trial for the lawsuit, which will take place on September 9th. Now, she will hear arguments from both parties directly to decide further on the case.
For the uninitiated, the DOJ and an alliance of states filed a lawsuit against Google last year. The lawsuit claimed that the search titan was unlawfully monopolizing the digital advertising market, apart from overcharging users. The case wants to end the company’s alleged dominance in the digital advertising business to allow for more competition.