Court Revives District of Columbia’s Antitrust Lawsuit Against Amazon

An appeals court in Washington, D.C. on Thursday revived the district’s antitrust lawsuit against Amazon after a lower court dismiss the suit.

In its ruling, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals said a Superior Court trial judge “set too high a bar” for the District of Columbia’s complaint, according to the Associated Press (AP). The appeals court also said the district presented enough “facts to survive” an effort by Amazon to have the case dismissed.

D.C.’s lawsuit was filed in 2021, and it accuses the e-commerce company of anticompetitive practices by placing restrictions on its suppliers and third-party sellers through its website. The district’s legal complaint also accuses Amazon of inflating prices for consumers.

“We disagree with the District of Columbia’s allegations and look forward to presenting facts in court that demonstrate how good these policies are for consumers,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said on Thursday, per the AP.

Doyle added, “Just like any store owner who wouldn’t want to promote a bad deal to their customers, we don’t highlight or promote offers that are not competitively priced.”

In March 2022, Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia granted Amazon’s motion to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit. Washington, D.C.’s then-attorney general, Karl Racine, asked Puig-Lugo to reconsider his ruling, which resulted in the judge ruling again months later that Amazon didn’t appear to violate any laws.

“It is equally likely the prices are the result of lawful, unchoreographed free-market behavior,” Puig-Lugo wrote in an August 2022 order about accusations that Amazon’s prices were anticompetitive.

An appeal from the D.C. attorney general led to Thursday’s order.

“Now, our case will move forward, and we will continue fighting to stop Amazon’s unfair and unlawful practices that have raised prices for District consumers and stifled innovation and choice across online retail,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who assumed office in January 2023, said in a statement, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, Amazon is also fighting a lawsuit brought against it in September 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 17 state attorneys general. In a statement announcing the suit, the FTC alleged that Amazon is “a monopolist that uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power.”

“The FTC and its state partners say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon,” the FTC said.

“We respect the role the FTC has historically played in protecting consumers and promoting competition,” Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky said in a statement in response to the FTC’s complaint.

Zapolsky continued, “Unfortunately, it appears the current FTC is radically departing from that approach, filing a misguided lawsuit against Amazon that would, if successful, force Amazon to engage in practices that actually harm consumers and the many businesses that sell in our store—such as having to feature higher prices, offer slower or less reliable Prime shipping, and make Prime more expensive and less convenient.