Visa and Mastercard have finally settled an antitrust class action lawsuit brought by merchants that has been in the judicial court system since 2005. The case consolidated about 40 class action lawsuits last year, bringing the caseload paperwork to a whopping 65 million pages. The proposed $6.2 billion settlement deal would be the largest class action settlement in an antitrust case. Needless to say, this is big news on many fronts.
In this consolidated class action, 19 merchants and trade groups alleged Visa and MasterCard conspired to fix fees at exorbitantly high rates charged to merchant customers for processing credit card payments. According to plaintiffs, this resulted in billions of dollars paid in excess swipe fees.
This Deal Is Finally a Fair One
The settlement offer still needs to receive judicial approval. The last settlement the two offered nearly six years ago was rejected by the court because of overly broad language that required merchants to agree to waive any claim they have against the two for any policy in place as of November 2012, in perpetuity, as long as Visa and Mastercard leave in place the surcharge rules modified by the settlement agreement.
Related Resources:
- Visa, MasterCard Settle Historic Price Fixing Case (FindLaw Free Enterprise)
- Visa Can’t Stick With an Argument, So It Won’t Be Making Any (FindLaw Supreme Court of the United States)
- Publishers Escape Liability in E-Book Antitrust Case (FindLaw U.S. Second Circuit)
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