WA AG’s office attempts to block Kroger-Albertsons merger
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, January 16th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
OLYMPIA – The Washington Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit Monday in King County Superior Court to block the proposed Kroger-Albertsons grocery merger. The suit asserts the merger eliminates Kroger’s closest competitor and decreases customer choice by significantly increasing the concentration of stores owned by the same company throughout Washington.
Albertsons owns Safeway and Haggen, while Kroger owns QFC and Fred Meyer. The lawsuit asks the court to find that the merger violates Washington antitrust law, and to issue an injunction permanently blocking the merger nationwide.
Assistant attorneys general Paula Pera, Miriam Stiefel, Helen Lubetkin and Amy Hanson, paralegals Michelle Oliver and Kate Iiams, and Litigation Support Manager Kimberly Hitchcock are handling the case for Washington.
The Office of the Attorney General’s Antitrust Division is responsible for enforcing the antitrust provisions of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act and federal antitrust laws. The division investigates and litigates complaints of anticompetitive conduct and reviews potentially anticompetitive mergers. The division also brings actions in state and federal courts to enforce antitrust laws. It receives no general fund support, funding its own actions through recoveries made in other cases.
