Google faces a wave of €12 billion claims from the EU as antitrust rulings trigger a subsequent litigation storm

According to reports, Google (GOOGL.US) is facing claims from dozens of price comparison websites in the European Union, amounting to at least €12 billion, with these sites accusing the search and advertising giant of stealing their customers.

These civil lawsuits are related to a 2017 ruling by the European Commission, which fined Google €2.4 billion for illegally using its dominant position in search to give an advantage to its own shopping service. This triggered a series of follow-up lawsuits, which have been delayed for years due to Google's appeals. Last year, a court ruled that Google did indeed violate antitrust laws, meaning that EU plaintiffs no longer need to prove this in court. Currently, many cases are progressing.

There are 12 civil cases ongoing in seven European countries. While not all courts and relevant parties are willing to disclose the amounts involved, nine of the claims exceed €12 billion.

In recent years, these lawsuits have surged, marking a new front in Google's legal battles in Europe. If successful, these lawsuits could encourage more companies to take action against the tech giant and further exacerbate the fines previously imposed on Google by EU regulators.

Christian C. Kesting, a law professor at the University of Düsseldorf, stated that the amounts claimed in follow-up lawsuits are often several times higher than the fines imposed by the EU for the same conduct. After Google lost in two antitrust cases, the U.S. Department of Justice is attempting to force it to divest key parts of its advertising and search browser business, and these claims have intensified the company's legal woes.

Google currently denies any related civil lawsuits filed in Europe, including refusing to disclose the number of lawsuits related to the antitrust ruling and the amounts involved. Many cases are set to go to trial soon. At the end of June, a judge in London will hear a £1 billion ($1.6 billion) claim from the UK website Kelkoo and the now-defunct website Foundem. In September, a court in Amsterdam will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by the Dutch company Compare Group.

Hamburg plans to hold two hearings in October, and judges in Berlin also plan to hold two more hearings in November, including a €3.3 billion lawsuit filed by Idealo, a company under Axel Springer. Google is also contesting a €2.1 billion claim from the Swedish website Pricerunner (now under Klarna) and a €500 million claim from the Polish website Ceneo At the same time, new claims continue to emerge. According to the litigation firm LitFin, last month in Amsterdam, it filed a €900 million lawsuit on behalf of several companies, including the now-defunct German website PreisRoboter and the Portuguese KuantoKusta.

Last week, Italy's Moltiply Group SA announced that it had notified Google, claiming €2.97 billion in damages for losses suffered by its price comparison shopping site Trovaprezzi from 2010 to 2017.

Over time, some plaintiffs have increased their claims and sought external litigation funders, accusing Google of continuing to violate antitrust laws by manipulating search results and not complying with the EU's 2017 order. They argue that this has allowed the tech giant to unfairly dominate web traffic and profits.

Google has denied these allegations, stating that the advertising display feature launched for price comparison websites in 2017 has performed well. A spokesperson added that the company does not differentiate its shopping service from competitors' shopping services and noted that currently, over 1,550 price comparison websites in Europe use its display feature, compared to only 7 in 2017.

A Google spokesperson stated, "We strongly oppose these lawsuits, which are brought by companies seeking compensation rather than investing in their own products."

In addition to civil cases, the EU has also imposed fines of about €8 billion on Google for antitrust violations since 2017, although some of these fines have been overturned. In addition to the €2.4 billion fine imposed in the price comparison ruling, Google has also been fined €4.34 billion and €1.49 billion for its actions related to the Android system and advertising contracts, respectively. Google is currently appealing the Android fine, which has been reduced by a lower court. The fines related to the advertising case have been overturned, but the European Commission may still continue to appeal.

Even with the support of the European Commission's ruling, the civil lawsuits currently in court are not guaranteed to succeed. Plaintiffs still need to prove that the search giant's actions led to their profit decline—law professor Kristine noted that this may be a difficult hurdle to overcome.

"You have to rule out other causes," she explained, stating that companies must prove that market fluctuations or poor business strategies are not the culprits. "This makes things very time-consuming and extremely complex."

Enforcement may pose another challenge. Although Kristine described civil cases as "the pillar of EU antitrust enforcement, on par with regulatory actions," if businesses win and Google chooses not to pay damages, they may have to seek intervention from U.S. courts. This could anger the White House, as Donald Trump has criticized European regulators for unfairly targeting U.S. tech companies.

Meanwhile, Google's litigation disputes are not limited to Europe. Last year, Yelp filed a lawsuit in San Francisco, accusing Google of abusing its market dominance. Yelp alleged that Google favored reviews from its own crowdsourced rating system over those from competitors, but Google called this allegation baseless