California says Amazon conspired with Home Depot to raise prices

Home Depot associates could soon hear a tougher version of a familiar customer question: why does this cost so much? California says Amazon pressured vendors and competing retailers, including Home Depot, to raise prices across platforms, a move the state says distorted what shoppers paid for everyday goods.

Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the underlying antitrust lawsuit in 2022, then asked in February 2026 for a preliminary injunction to stop the alleged conduct while the case moves forward. On April 20, California secured public access to a largely unredacted version of that filing, and the state says the evidence shows Amazon, vendors and competing retailers agreed to increase retail prices across websites.

The California Department of Justice says Amazon reached out to vendors for years and pushed them to “fix,” “correct,” “increase,” “raise” or “look into” rival prices. If vendors did not comply, the state says, Amazon threatened advertising and promotion restrictions, financial-compensation demands, loss of the Buy Box or removal of products from Amazon. The filing names Home Depot, Walmart, Target, Chewy and Best Buy as competing retailers caught in the alleged scheme.

For store teams, the immediate issue is not a courtroom theory. It is the possibility of customer skepticism. If shoppers believe prices were nudged upward in the background, associates on the floor and at service desks may be the ones asked to explain whether a price tag reflects normal competition or something less clean. That kind of trust problem can matter as much as any legal penalty when traffic is tight and customers are already comparison-shopping online.

The newly unsealed materials include examples involving Levi Strauss, Hanes and Allergan, with references to khakis and eye drops. California says the conduct was especially significant amid an affordability crunch and wants the court to shut it down now. The case is scheduled to go to trial next year.

Home Depot was named in the filing as one of the affected retailers, but the public materials do not spell out any store-specific operational action tied to the allegations. The company remains a retail giant in its own right, with more than 2,300 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, fiscal 2025 net sales of $164.7 billion and earnings of $14.2 billion. For associates, the near-term risk is less about legal exposure on the floor and more about a harder sell if the allegations keep landing with customers.