The lawsuit over a deal to combine the two largest U.S. supermarkets came just a day after it was blocked in both federal and Washington state courts.
Albertsons has sued Kroger, launching a new chapter in the supermarket wars after the two largest U.S. grocery chains failed to convince multiple courts that they should be allowed to merge to take on bigger rivals such as Walmart.
On Tuesday, both a federal district court in Oregon and a state court in Washington blocked the $24.6 billion deal, saying it would reduce competition, which would harm shoppers.
By Wednesday morning, Albertsons abandoned the merger and filed a lawsuit against Kroger, alleging a willful breach of contract for not doing enough to win regulatory approval for the merger. Kroger, in a statement in response, said Albertsons is deflecting its own responsibility.
