Services

PAYMENT CARD INTERCHANGE FEE AND MERCHANT DISCOUNT ANTITRUST CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT Relevant Case History In 2005, merchants filed several class action lawsuits alleging that, because Visa, Mastercard and certain U.S. financial institutions fixed fees for processing credit and debit card payments and prohibited merchants from steering their customers toward the use of lower-cost payment instruments, merchants paid higher interchange fees. A settlement reached in 2012 was vacated. At the time that the Superseding Settlement was reached, it provided a settlement fund of as much as $6.24 billion but not less than approximately $5.54 billion depending on several factors. By Order entered December 13, 2019, as further explained in its December 16, 2019 Memorandum & Order, the district court granted final approval to the Superseding Settlement, the settlement fund for which is estimated to be approximately $5.54 billion after reductions for the full $700 million permitted due to exclusions, subject to further reduction for, among other things, Court-approved attorneys’ fees in the amount of $523.3 million and expenses in the amount of $39.2 million, Court-approved incentive awards to class representatives, and the costs of noticing class members and administering the Superseding Settlement.