Key US antitrust questions the courts could answer in 2024

Amerisafe

02/01/2024 11:00

By Mike Scarcella
       Jan 2(Reuters) - Major court battles will test the scope
of U.S. antitrust law for real estate, technology and other
industries in 2024.
    Here’s a look at some of the key cases and issues to watch
in the new year.
    
    Real estate commissions
    National residential real estate brokers are facing a
litigation blitz over a long-standing industry practice: the
buyer broker commission. That’s the payment, sometimes upwards
of 6% of a home’s sale price, that a seller makes to an agent
who typically splits that with the buyer's agent.
    A blockbuster $1.8 billion class-action verdict for home
sellers in October in Kansas City, Missouri, rattled the
industry, and that case will likely head to the 8th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals. The defendants, including major real estate
brokers and their industry trade group, the National Association
of Realtors, have since been hit with numerous new lawsuits in
California, New York and Texas.
    Meanwhile, the D.C. Circuit is expected to announce whether
the U.S. Justice Department can resume an investigation of the
realtor trade group, or whether a prior settlement will block
antitrust investigators. The court heard arguments earlier this
month.
    
    FTC’s ambitions 
    A series of cases brought by the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission could spark court rulings that help to expand or rein
in the agency's powers.
    A Seattle court is expected to rule next year on the FTC’s
lawsuit accusing e-commerce giant Amazon  AMZN.O  of abusing its
power to artificially keep prices high. Amazon’s attorneys have
defended what they call “common retail practices” and denied any
antitrust violations.
    In Texas, the FTC will try to convince a judge to
green-light its antitrust case against private equity firm Welsh
Carson Anderson & Stowe over its investments in the healthcare
sector. Attorneys for the firm contend that allowing the FTC to
pursue the case would mean “turning decades of settled corporate
law on its head.”
    The agency’s antitrust case against Facebook, accused of
abusing its power in the personal social network market, could
head to trial in 2024.
    
    Algorithms and price-fixing
    RealPage will face a litigation squeeze in the new year, as
the District of Columbia and private plaintiffs pursue claims
that the technology company and its revenue management software
helped to facilitate a scheme to keep rental prices artificially
high for multifamily housing.
    A Tennessee federal judge last week said renters' claims can
move forward against RealPage, which is accused of conspiring
with property managers and owners to overcharge for multifamily
housing. The plaintiffs claim RealPage uses industry data
provided by the other defendants to keep rents high. RealPage
has denied any wrongdoing.
    The case hinges on what the Justice Department has called
the “new frontier” for alleged price-fixing: computer algorithms
like the pricing technology used by RealPage.
    The District of Columbia, working with a private law firm,
sued RealPage for alleged antitrust violations at the end of
2023. A judge is set to meet with the lawyers in May.
    
    Google’s antitrust woes 
    Alphabet's Google  GOOGL.O  will be fighting on a variety of
court fronts in the new year, facing off with the U.S. Justice
Department, states and corporate plaintiffs such as “Fortnite”
maker Epic Games.
    U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in D.C. will hear closing
arguments in May in the Justice Department’s case accusing
Google of unlawfully maintaining its dominance over internet
search. In Virginia, the government’s challenge to Google’s ad
tech business is expected to head to trial.
    Lawyers for Epic in the new year will have a chance to argue
for an injunction challenging Google’s Play store practices. A
jury in San Francisco in December ruled for Epic in a major
antitrust challenge over in-app payments and app distribution on
Android devices. Google separately agreed to pay $700 million
and make some reforms to its Play store in a Dec. 18 deal with
consumers and states in related litigation.
    Epic mostly lost a similar case against Apple, and it has
asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review that case, including an
order that would require it to make some changes to its App
Store.

 (Reporting by Mike Scarcella)
 ((Mike.Scarcella@thomsonreuters.com;))