A King County and federal judge recently blocked the $24.6 billion merger of grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons in separate cases, leading Albertsons to abandon the deal and sue  Kroger for failing to do what was necessary to secure it.

The federal judge in Oregon agreed Dec. 10 to halt the merger pending administrative review, per news reports. The Federal Trade Commission together with several states petitioned the court to stop the merger, saying the resulting company would lead to higher prices and fewer options for consumers.

Hours later that same day, a judge agreed with outgoing Washington state Attorney General and governor-elect Bob Ferguson that the merger violated Washington antitrust law and awarded the state its costs and fees, according to a release from the attorney general’s office.

The merger has been stalled for more than two years. Kroger and Albertsons officials have previously argued the merger is required for their companies’ survival and have put forth plans to alleviate and challenge regulators’ concerns.

The day after the ruling, Albertsons officials filed suit against Kroger, saying its partner company refused to divest itself of stores to address antitrust issues, ignored regulators’ feedback and rejected stronger buyers for assets it needed to shed, according to news reports. Kroger pushed back against the accusations, countering that Albertsons was responsible for “repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process.”  

Together, Kroger and Albertsons have nearly 5,000 stores and employ some 720,000 people across 48 states. They particularly overlap in western states. In the Tri-Cities, Kroger has two Fred Meyer locations while Albertsons/Safeway has four locations.