Google Executives Escape Depositions in Antitrust Case, for Now

Five current and former Google LLC executives, including its CEO Sundar Pichai, will not have to face immediate depositions in an antitrust lawsuit from consumers, a San Francisco federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim said in a short order that the consumers, who sued Google over its alleged monopolization of the search market, must first “exhaust other methods of discovery” before they can attempt to depose Pichai, former CEO Eric Schmidt, and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

The antitrust lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California closely mirrors the US Justice Department’s ...