Appeals court says the District of Columbia can proceed with its antitrust lawsuit against Amazon

An antitrust lawsuit the District of Columbia brought against Amazon was revived Thursday after a federal appeals court reversed a lower court’s decision to dismiss the complaint.

A Superior Court trial judge “set too high a bar” for the district’s complaint, which presented “sufficient facts to survive” Amazon’s motion to have the case thrown out, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled.

The lawsuit, filed in 2021, accused Amazon of anticompetitive practices in its treatment of third-party sellers, which facilitate most of the sales made through the retail giant’s online shopping platform.

“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 Thursday. “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.”

The D.C. complaint alleged the company inflated prices for consumers and stifled innovation through practices such as contract provisions that prevented sellers from offering their products at lower prices or on better terms on their own websites or other platforms.

The Superior Court judge granted Amazon’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, saying sellers were free to set their prices and that the district’s claim that Amazon’s practices led to higher prices were “conclusory.”

The district eventually appealed the ruling to the appeals court, leading 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 said in a prepared statement.

Amazon is also facing an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission.