Federal judge won't let Amazon appeal in FTC subscription case

(CN) — A federal judge on Friday declined to give Amazon permission to appeal several of his orders to the Ninth Circuit in a legal fight with the Federal Trade Commission over accusations that the company tricked customers into signing up for Prime memberships and then made them difficult to cancel.

In his 14-page ruling, U.S. District Judge John H. Chun expressed concern for the case’s schedule, especially considering that Amazon filed its motion only four months before the case is scheduled for trial.

“If the court granted the motion, it is unlikely the parties would complete appellate briefing by the trial date, much less receive a ruling from the Ninth Circuit,” the Joe Biden appointee wrote.

The judge added that Amazon’s request should have been brought up much earlier in the case, saying the request “would not accelerate or simplify court proceedings.”

The FTC sued Amazon in June 2023 in the Western District of Washington, claiming the company tricked, coerced and manipulated consumers into subscribing to Amazon Prime by failing to disclose the material terms of the subscription clearly and conspicuously, and by failing to obtain the consumers’ informed consent before enrolling them.

The agency also claims that Amazon did not provide simple mechanisms for subscribers to cancel their Prime memberships, which bring in billions of dollars in revenue for the company.

More than a year ago, the court denied Amazon’s motions to dismiss the lawsuit, unpersuaded by the company’s arguments that the suit violated its due process rights as a matter of law because it did not have “fair notice” of the FTC’s interpretation of Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, which is designed to protect consumers from deceptive online billing practices.

At the time, the court also rejected arguments by Amazon executives, that, as a matter of law, “they did not have fair warning that the ordinary performance of their jobs could subject them to personal liability.”

The court also later denied two motions seeking to compel the FTC to produce internal documents and participate in a deposition.

In May, the company asked the court for permission to appeal these specific orders to the Ninth Circuit before the case was over, warning that the judge’s previous decisions were “inconsistent with the law, significantly prejudice defendants and could require redoing this litigation years down the road if not reviewed immediately.”

However, Chun sided with the FTC, saying that such appeals are meant to be raised in the “early stages” of litigation, and that it would be unreasonable to believe that an appeal at this stage wouldn’t delay the upcoming trial.

“An interlocutory appeal would not necessarily materially advance the termination of this litigation,” Chun said.

The case is currently scheduled for trial on Sept. 22, 2025.

Amazon did not respond to requests for comment by press time. A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment.

Federal regulators previously accused Amazon of hiding evidence in May, claiming that that the retailer wrongfully withheld  documents where an executive referred to former CEO Jeff Bezos as Amazon’s “chief dark arts officer” when it came to the “shady world” of driving Prime subscriptions.