States Seek Leave to Amend Their State-Law DTPA Claims vs. Google

The state plaintiffs in the Google digital advertising antitrust multidistrict litigation seek leave to amend their state law Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) claims, which have been stayed since the formation of the MDL, they requested by letter Thursday (docket 1:21-md-03010) to U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel for Southern New York. The state plaintiffs haven't had a chance to amend their state law claims in this MDL, and “justice requires that they be given leave” to amend, “so they may put their best foot forward with respect to those claims,” they said. Amending the states’ DTPA claims “is a significantly more complicated task than amending federal antitrust claims,” they told the judge. Federal claims are common across all states, the plaintiffs said, but there are “17 sovereigns which need to be involved in any amendment of state law claims, and there are variations between the different DTPAs which need to be accounted for in any amendment.”