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"The proposed acquisition would eliminate substantial head-to-head competition between defendants in the communities in which both firms operate supermarkets today," the FTC argues in its complaint.

But in their motion to compel the government's response to their interrogatories, Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos. Inc. say the specific "contours" of relevant markets will be key to the litigation, adding that the FTC was ignoring how the growth of other competitors like Costco Wholesale Corp., Aldi, and online shopping platforms have changed how shoppers get their groceries.

"Without basic facts stating who plaintiffs allege is in or out of the market and how big those markets allegedly are, defendants cannot even understand, much less adequately defend themselves, against the allegations in the complaint," the companies argue in their filing last month.

According to a briefing schedule agreed to in March, the government will file an opening brief in support of a preliminary injunction to block the merger by July 24. Kroger and Albertsons will have until Aug. 9 to reply.

None of the parties immediately responded to Law360's requests for comment Monday.

The FTC is represented in-house by James H. Weingarten, Charles Dickinson, Rohan Pai, Laura R. Hall, Elizabeth Arens, Jeanine Balbach, Katherine Bies, Emily Blackburn, Katherine Drummonds, Paul Frangie, Jacob Hamburger, Lily Hough, Janet Kim, Kenneth A. Libby, Eric Olson, Harris Rothman, Joshua Smith and Albert Teng.

Albertsons is represented by James A. Fishkin and Michael G. Cowie of Dechert LLP, and Edward D. Hassi, Michael Schaper, Shannon Rose Selden, J. Robert Abraham and Natascha Born of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

Kroger is represented by Matthew M. Wolf, Michael B. Bernstein, Jason C. Ewart, Joshua M. Davis, Matthew M. Shultz, Yasmine Harik and John Holler of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, and Mark A. Perry, Luna Barrington and Luke Sullivan of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.