Amazon faces largest class action lawsuit in history, targeting 288 million customers
Federal District Judge John Chung ruled that a class action lawsuit alleging that Amazon charged unfairly high fees to third-party sellers and passed the cost on to consumers could proceed. The lawsuit, which covers a whopping 288 million people, is expected to be the largest class action lawsuit in history.
Amazon must face US nationwide class action over third-party sales | Reuters
Judge allows Amazon fee lawsuit to proceed
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5482322-amazon-lawsuit-third-party-fees/
Amazon was sued by several customers in 2021 for imposing a 'platform first preference clause' (PMFN clause) on third-party sellers, restricting them from selling at lower prices on other platforms and requiring them to prioritize Amazon.
In a previously undisclosed court document, Judge Chun rejected Amazon's argument that the plaintiffs had failed to establish the existence of the PMFN clause, finding that Amazon had adopted policies and practices equivalent to the PMFN clause, which allowed Amazon to impose high fees on sellers and resulted in customers paying unreasonably high prices.
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Judge Chung has designated as plaintiffs 'customers who purchased five or more items on Amazon Marketplace after May 26, 2017,' making this the largest class action lawsuit in the history of U.S. litigation, with the total number of plaintiffs estimated to be 288 million.
The charges in this lawsuit are similar to those filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a 2023 antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.
Amazon also claims that it has not used the pricing program alleged by the plaintiffs since 2019. It also claims that the plaintiffs' group is too large for the company to manage and that the plaintiffs' alleged actions have failed to prove widespread impact. However, Judge Chung countered that 'the size of the plaintiffs' group is not too large,' pointing out that other federal courts have handled class action lawsuits involving groups of millions or even hundreds of millions of plaintiffs.
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