• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, January 27, 2025

Siding with Google, a federal judge has sent antitrust claims brought by two advertisers to arbitration.

In a ruling issued Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Castel in New York said the advertisers -- Cliffy Care Landscaping and California resident Michael Stellman -- agreed to arbitrate any disputes with Google by accepting its terms of service, which provided for arbitration.

“The record reflects that Stellman and Cliffy Care both affirmatively agreed to the terms after being presented with a page that included a conspicuous and boldfaced notice that the terms included a binding arbitration provision, from which advertisers could opt out,” Castel wrote.

The decision comes in a sprawling antitrust lawsuit initially brought in 2021 by advertisers and numerous publishers over Google's alleged monopolization of the ad-tech stack.

Castel's ruling Friday only affects advertisers who accepted Google's arbitration clause in the terms of service. At least one advertiser that sued -- the Hanson law firm -- didn't accept the arbitration agreement, according to court papers.

The complaint against Google centers on allegations that it monopolized markets connected to display ads. Those claims are also at the center of a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against Google that went to trial last year in Virginia. U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, who presided over that trial, hasn't yet issued a ruling.

Stellman and Cliffy Care had urged Castel to invalidate the arbitration clause in Google's terms of service for several reasons, including that Google allegedly failed to prove it gave the advertisers “adequate notice” of the provision.

The judge rejected that argument, noting that the webpage shown to Stellman “contained boldfaced, conspicuous notice” that it contained an arbitration agreement, and that advertisers could opt out of arbitration. Castel likewise found Cliffy Care had entered into “valid arbitration agreement” with Google.