Google Seeks Summary Judgment in Ohio Common Carrier Case

Google urged a state court to reject Ohio’s “meritless attempt to regulate Google’s ability to determine how best to select and present search results to consumers,” said Google's summary judgment motion Friday at the Ohio Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County (case 21 CV H 06 0274). The state argues that it can regulate Google as a common carrier under Ohio law. “The common law doctrine of ‘common carriage’ does not fit Google Search for many reasons, and such a designation would be contrary to federal law and constitutionally flawed,” wrote Google. Search doesn’t involve transportation or carriage, it said. Users, websites and other information sources on search results pages don’t “hire Google Search to ‘carry’ or ‘transport’ anything,” said the tech giant: Since Google uses “discretion and judgment” to create its results pages, “there is nothing ‘indiscriminate’ or ‘indifferent’ about the process Google uses to create Google search results.” Plus, the federal government doesn’t allow regulation of information services like Google, it said. “The common law claim of common carriage is incongruous” with any antitrust concerns the state may have, Google added. Also, common carrier regulation would interfere with Google’s editorial judgment, which is protected by the First Amendment, it said. Ohio also filed a summary judgment motion Friday, but it was sealed. Trial is set for Sept. 3 under the court’s schedule, as amended May 4. Opposition briefs are due Feb. 23 and reply briefs are due March 15. Judge James Schuck refused to dismiss Ohio’s lawsuit in May 2022, ruling that Ohio “stated a cognizable claim” that Google could be a common carrier (see 2205260057).