Twitter-Musk, Starbucks closures, Google and antitrust: 3 legal stories to watch

In this article:

Major legal disputes are heating up as the summer gets into full swing.

On Tuesday, Tesla CEO (TSLA) Elon Musk's and Twitter's (TWTR) lawyers are expected to show up for a virtual hearing in Delaware Chancery Court to argue for the first time over Twitter's push to force Musk's $44 billion purchase of the social media company.

The Starbucks (SBUX) labor union that filed charges against the company for alleged union-busting tactics has asked for a temporary injunction to stop the company from purportedly closing stores as retaliation against pro-union workers. And we're watching whether the U.S. Justice Department will force Alphabet's Google (GOOG) to formally defend its dominance in the online advertising market.

Musk-Twitter deal in court

On Friday, Musk's lawyers objected to a request by Twitter for Delaware's Chancery Court to fast track its closely watched lawsuit to force Musk to acquire the company. The court's Chief Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, who is assigned to decide the larger issue of whether Musk must go through with the $44 billion merger that he agreed to, is scheduled to preside over a hearing on the preliminary matter of whether to grant Twitter an expedited trial.

In a court filing on Friday, Musk's lawyers characterized Twitter's push for a four-day resolution to the matter in September as an "unjustifiable request to rush" the case to trial and called on Judge McCormick to deny the request.

People form a line to enter the original Starbucks coffee shop at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington, U.S., February 11, 2017.  REUTERS/Chris Helgren
People form a line to enter the original Starbucks coffee shop at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington, U.S., February 11, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren (Chris Helgren / reuters)

Starbucks closures

Unionized Starbucks workers are accusing the company of shuttering retail stores as a union-busting tactic, citing concerns that the coffee chain is citing crime levels as pretext for targeting the locations. The labor organization has asked for a temporary injunction to stop the closures, which it alleges violate labor law.

Starbucks Workers United, the labor organization that has successfully unionized more than 180 U.S. stores, filed claims last week against the company for planned store closures scheduled to happen by August 1, calling the closures "unfair labor practices" aimed to discourage unionization.

"Within the past six months [Starbucks] closed and/or threatened to close at least 16 stores in order to discourage union activity, retaliate against workers engaged in union activity and/or escape its obligation to bargain with the Union," the union alleges in its charge.

A Starbucks spokeswomen told Yahoo Finance that the company regularly opens and closes stores in its normal course of business, adding that recent safety incidents jeopardized the standards for its stores that it seeks to uphold customers as well as employees.

On Sunday, Seattle workers protested against the company outside its original coffee shop on Pike Street. Two of five Seattle stores that the company plans to close by the end of the month have unionized. Starbucks plans to close 16 stores across the country over safety concerns.

Google's ad-tech dominance

The U.S. Justice Department has long been expected to up the ante in its challenges against Google's dominance in multiple markets. Recent reports suggest that the agency, which sued the company over its dominance in the online search market in 2020, is primed to file an additional case against Google's parent company Alphabet alleging antitrust violations that stem from its stronghold in the advertising technology market.

The advertising behemoth reported gross revenue of $31.7 billion last year. And according to Bloomberg, Google has tried, unsuccessfully, to stave off the additional litigation by offering to break off parts of the online business.

This story has been updated to include responses from Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United, and to reflect that Tuesday's hearing between Twitter and Elon Musk in Delaware Chancery Court will be held virtually.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.

Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news

For tutorials and information on investing and trading stocks, check out Cashay

Advertisement