Kroger Sues FTC, Calling Its Internal Judges Unconstitutional

By Jody Godoy

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Kroger filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Monday, seeking to block the regulator from reviewing the grocery chain’s proposed $25 billion merger with smaller rival Albertsons in its domestic court.

Kroger called the court ruling unconstitutional, saying the case should be resolved in federal court.

The Cincinnati lawsuit comes a week before the company faces a trial in which the FTC asked a federal judge in Portland, Ore., to temporarily block the merger while its internal judges review the deal.

The FTC said in a complaint filed in February that the deal would raise prices for millions of Americans and shrink the job market for unionized grocery store workers.

That internal review could take years, Kroger said in the lawsuit.

Kroger Chairman Rodney McMullen said in a statement that the company was “prepared to defend this merger at the upcoming trial in federal court, the appropriate venue for this matter to be heard.”

“We ask the court to halt what amounts to an illegal proceeding before the FTC’s internal court,” he said.

An FTC spokesperson declined to comment.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)