Rulings on two cases started a new legal battle over a proposed merger between Albertsons and Kroger this week. On Wednesday, Albertsons announced they terminated the merger agreement and filed a lawsuit against Kroger.Kroger is the parent company of King Soopers while Albertsons is the parent company of Safeway. A lawsuit filed on Feb. 14 by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser claims that if a merger happened between the two companies, it would have a negative impact on Colorado consumers. Weiser also claims the deal violates state antitrust laws. On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked the merger and in a separate case a judge in Washington ruled against the merger. Weiser praised the decisions by both of those judges, and Albertsons took new action Wednesday morning.Given the recent federal and state court decisions to block our proposed merger with Kroger, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the merger agreement. We are deeply disappointed in the courts decisions, Vivek Sankaran the CEO for Albertsons stated. "We start this next chapter in strong financial condition with a track record of positive business performance. Over the last two years, we have invested in our core business and in new sources of revenue, while enhancing our capabilities through the rollout of new technologies. All of this has been built on a rich asset base, including our beloved brands in premium locations with substantial real estate value. These assets provide us the opportunity to optimize the acceleration of our Customers for Life strategy and other value-creating initiatives. We are excited about our agenda to create long-term value and are committed to returning cash to our stockholders both in the near term and in the future. We will be providing additional details on our plan no later than our earnings conference call in January 2025."Albertsons is now seeking billions of dollars in damages and filed a lawsuit against Kroger. Albertsons claims there was a willful breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by Kroger. The lawsuit is on top of a $600 million termination fee Albertsons plans to collect.Albertsons claims are baseless and without merit," a spokesperson for Kroger wrote to KOAA minutes after we requested a statement. "Kroger refutes these allegations in the strongest possible terms, especially in light of Albertsons repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process. This is clearly an attempt to deflect responsibility following Krogers written notification of Albertsons multiple breaches of the agreement, and to seek payment of the mergers break fee, to which they are not entitled. Kroger looks forward to responding to these baseless claims in court. We went to extraordinary lengths to uphold the merger agreement throughout the entirety of the regulatory process and the facts will make that abundantly clear. We are incredibly proud of the Kroger team for how they worked through the merger process with the highest degree of integrity and commitment.  We are confident in Krogers value creation model to drive sustainable growth.  Krogers Board of Directors is currently evaluating next steps that serve the best interests of Krogers customers and associates, and create value for shareholders.TIMELINE:-Oct. 14, 2022: Kroger announced a plan to purchase Albertsons in a $24.6 billion deal.-Jan. 15, 2024: Washington files lawsuit to block merger-Feb. 14, 2024: Colorado state attorney general files lawsuit-Feb. 26, 2024: FTC sues to block the merger-Dec. 11, 2024: Judges for the Federal and Washington cases rule in favor of the plaintiffs, halting the merger. -Dec. 12, 2024: Albertsons terminates merger and announces lawsuit against Kroger. "A post-merger Kroger would have the ability to raise prices, pinching consumers," Weiser's office posted in a news release earlier this year. "In urban areas, where consumers shop close to home, the consolidation of Kroger and Albertsons stores would create significant market power to raise prices and reduce quality and services. Consumers in other areas of the state would feel the effects even more. For instance, City Market and Safeway are the only supermarkets in Gunnison. The merger would make Kroger the only supermarket in this area, and a Gunnison resident would have to drive 65 miles to Salida or Montrose to reach a non-Kroger store, leaving them at the peril of their supply chain failing."Weiser also points to a strike by King Soopers employees in 2022 as being a potential issue with the now failed merger, claiming an agreement between Kroger and Albertsons over the strike was illegal."The strike also shows that Kroger and Albertsons compete for employees," Weiser's office adds. "King Soopers was concerned about losing employees and customers to Safeway during the strike and entered into an agreement with Albertsons whereby Safeway agreed to not hire any King Soopers employees and to not solicit any of King Soopers pharmacy customers, according to an email between company executives leading up to the strike. Such no-poach and non-solicitation agreements are illegal under the Colorado State Antitrust Act because they are agreements to not compete."This is a developing story and this article will be updated.____Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.