October 1, 2026 News

Court Denies Google’s Summary Judgment Bid Against Publisher Class, Refuses to Exclude Opinions by Publishers’ Experts in Ad Tech Antitrust Case

A federal court in Manhattan has denied Google’s motion for summary judgment against the certified class of online publishers represented by Berger Montague, a leading national plaintiffs’ law firm, clearing the way for the publishers’ antitrust claims to proceed to trial. The court also rejected Google’s efforts to exclude opinions offered in support of the publishers’ case by its two leading experts.

“This ruling clears the way for our team to present our case to a jury, seeking to hold Google accountable for allegedly rigging the ad auctions on which online publishers depend to sell advertising space on their websites,” said Chairman Eric L. Cramer. “For years, Google used its dominance over the tools publishers use to sell ad space to steer their advertising space inventory to Google’s own exchange, allowing Google to take a much bigger cut of every dollar of ad spending. These practices, publishers allege, caused them to suffer well over $1 billion in damages.”

In a September 30, 2026 opinion, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York rejected Google’s bid to dispose of the publishers’ claims. The publishers allege that Google used its control over publisher ad tech tools to squeeze out rivals of Google’s advertising exchange, suppressing competition in online ad exchange services, and thereby overcharging publishers. The court also denied Google’s motion to exclude the opinions of the publisher class’s expert economist, Professor Einer Elhauge, a professor at Harvard Law School who has been described by one court as an “antitrust titan.” The court also declined to exclude another of the publisher class’s experts, Anand Das, an entrepreneur and leading expert in digital advertising.

The court held that a reasonable jury could find that a set of Google bidding practices—First Look, Last Look, Dynamic Revenue Sharing, Unified Pricing Rules, and Enhanced Dynamic Allocation—operated as an unlawful tie that coerced publishers using Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) ad server to sell their ad impressions through Google’s AdX ad exchange. The court explained that these restraints allegedly required publishers to transact on AdX “based upon Google’s dictate.” The court also rejected Google’s statute of limitations and foreign-commerce arguments.

The ruling builds on the court’s October 2025 decision barring Google from relitigating findings by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that Google monopolized the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets and unlawfully tied DFP to AdX. In December 2025, the court certified a class, led by The Nation Company, LLC and Genius Media Group, Inc., consisting of U.S. publishers that sold ad space through AdX.

Additional Information

For more information about the case, visit www.bergermontague.com/google.
Read the Court’s Opinion and Order, In re Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation, No. 21-md-3010 (PKC) (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2026) (ECF No. 2041). Read more here.
Read more about the Court’s December 2025 class certification ruling here.
The Berger Montague team includes Chairman Eric L. Cramer, Executive Shareholder and General Counsel Michael Dell’Angelo, Shareholders Patrick F. Madden and Robert E. Litan, and Associates Jeremy Gradwohl and Dennie Zastrow.
Berger Montague represents the class alongside Boies Schiller Flexner LLP and Korein Tillery LLC.
Google must face US antitrust claims over adtech, judge rules, MLex (September 30, 2026). Read more here.

Berger Montague is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms focusing on complex civil litigation, class actions, and mass torts in federal and state courts throughout the United States. With more than $2.4 billion in 2025 post-trial judgments alone, the Firm is a leader in the fields of complex litigation, antitrust, consumer protection, defective products, environmental law, employment law, securities, and whistleblower cases, among many other practice areas. For over 55 years, Berger Montague has played leading roles in precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago; Malvern, PA; Minneapolis; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto, Canada; Washington, DC; and Wilmington, DE.

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