A federal judge said the Federal Trade Commission can proceed with its landmark antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. But, he also gave the company a small victory by tossing out a few claims made by states involved in the legal fight.

The order, issued last week by Judge John H. Chun and unsealed on Monday, is a major defeat for Amazon, which has tried for months to get the case tossed out in court. A trial in the case is slated to be held in October 2026.

The FTC and the attorneys general of 18 states, plus Puerto Rico, have alleged in court the e-commerce behemoth is abusing its position in the marketplace to inflate prices on and off its platform, overcharge sellers and stifle competition that pops up on the market.

In the order, Judge Chun, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, allowed the federal challenges and many of the state claims to proceed. But he dismissed some claims made by New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Maryland under state antitrust or consumer protection laws.

Amazon, for its part, expressed confidence that it could prove its argument in court as the case proceeds

“The ruling at this early stage requires the court to assume all facts alleged in the complaint are true. They are not,” company representative Tim Doyle said in a statement, adding that the agency’s case “falsely” claims consumers only consider popular sites Walmart.com, Target.com, Amazon, and eBay when shopping for household products.

— Associated Press

Judge orders opening of Google Play Store

Alphabet Inc. must lift restrictions that prevent developers from setting up rival marketplaces that compete with its Google Play Store, a judge ruled, upending the search giant’s dominance in the lucrative Android app market.

A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday handed a big victory to Epic Games Inc. in its long-running antitrust challenge to the technology giant’s app store, which brought in $14.66 billion in sales in 2020. The ruling comes after the maker of the popular video game Fortnite convinced a jury that Google abused its power in the Android app market with its Google Play store policies.

N.C. insurers want to raise homeowner rates

With many western North Carolina residents still lacking power and running water from Hurricane Helene, a hearing began Monday on the insurance industry’s request to raise homeowner premiums statewide by more than 42% on average.

A top lieutenant for Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey opened what’s expected to be multiple weeks of witnesses, evidence and arguments by attorneys for the state Insurance Department and the North Carolina Rate Bureau, which represents insurance companies seeking the increase.

In over 2,000 pages of data filed last January, the Rate Bureau sought proposed increases varying widely from just over 4% in parts of the mountains to 99% in some beach areas. Proposed increases in and around big cities like Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro are roughly 40%.

Across 11 western counties that were hit hard by Helene, including Asheville’s Buncombe County, the requested increase is 20.5%. The percentages are based on insurance payouts of years past and future claims projections.

— From news services