Boies Schiller Nabs Interim Co-Lead Spot in Google Antitrust Row

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP will be interim co-lead counsel in a proposed class action brought by online publishers who say Google has obtained a stranglehold over the ad market and hurt their businesses as a result, after a Thursday ruling by a federal judge in California.

Genius Media Group Inc., The Nation Company LP, and The Progressive Inc. sued Google parent Alphabet Inc. on behalf of online publishers in December 2020, alleging it violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by “erecting a toll bridge between publishers and advertisers and charging an unlawfully high price for passage.” The complaint also says Google’s Ad Server “imposes anticompetitive rules and conduct that artificially warp the channels through which publishers sell their ad placement inventory.”

The complaint was similar to one filed by Sweepstakes Today LLC and was followed by other similar suits, they are up for consolidation.

Boies Schiller, Korein Tillery LLC, and Berger Montague PC sought appointment as interim co-lead counsel for the publisher class in February, and also asked for a leadership committee that would include Kirby McInerney LLP and Gustafson Gluek PLLC. Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted the motion Thursday, but with reservations.

The publishers were given the green light to proceed with the proposed leadership, but Freeman asked Abby Lauren Dennis, of Boies Schiller, to identify the lawyers who would actually be working on the case.

“I’m not limiting you to them, because you’re going to draw in lawyers as you need, but I really want to know who the teams are—the go-to people you’re going to be working with,” Freeman said in the Zoom hearing. “Generally I will approve it, but I would really like to get a new proposal from you because I think it’s really important I not miss any of the nuances and cause you problems.”

Freeman also asked to see details on efficiency and ways to cut costs. The updated proposal is due April 12.

The case is Genius Media Group Inc. v. Alphabet Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 5:20-cv-09092, 4/1/21.