Alphabet’s Google will not face a jury trial over its alleged digital advertising dominance after the company wrote a check to the US to cover monetary damages, a federal judge ruled Friday.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states sued the tech giant last year, claiming it was unlawfully monopolizing digital advertising and overcharging users.
The jury trial would have been the first-ever in a civil antitrust case lodged by the Justice Department, Google said.
Friday’s ruling by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Va., means Google will face a non-jury trial in the lawsuit, which seeks primarily to break up its digital advertising business to allow for more competition.
Google confirmed that Brinkema, who had previously scheduled a jury trial for September, had issued the ruling during a court hearing but declined to comment further on Friday.
The company has denied wrongdoing and said it was not admitting liability by submitting a damages payment.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.
Google said last month the government, which had initially claimed more than $100 million in damages, could not show more than $1 million in damages and wrote a check to cover the amount. The final amount has not been disclosed.
Google had accused the federal government of manufacturing its monetary damages claim in order to ensure a jury trial, since non-monetary demands are heard by judges directly in antitrust cases.
![CEO Sundar Pichai](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/alphabet-ceo-sundar-pichai-speaks-81855722.jpg?w=1024)
The Justice Department responded that it was open to resolving the money damages part of its case, but only if Google cut a larger check.
“Google has fought hard to keep its anticompetitive conduct shielded from public view,” the government told Brinkema last month.
Source: NYPOST