Newsroom

March 27, 2017

Supreme Court won't revisit Visa, Mastercard $7.25B settlement

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would not hear, or possibly revive, the $7.25 billion antitrust settlement Visa and Mastercard reached with retailers in a case charging that the card companies overcharged on interchange, or swipe fees, and did not allow stores to encourage consumers to pay in other ways.

The court said it wouldn't review the previous decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which invalidated the settlement in June 2016.

The $7.25 billion settlement was reached after a group of 2005 lawsuits from retailers became a class action. The deal established collective negotiation between merchants and card companies over interchange fees, which would be subject to a cap.

The settlement broke the class into two groups – those that accepted Visa and Mastercard between 2004 and 2012 and those who would accept the cards going forward.

The appeals court decertified the case as a class action and said the two retailer classes should not have been represented by the same lawyer. In that decision, the court said the agreement was unfair to those retailers that were focused on the future card rules.

The Wall Street Journal noted Monday that "the Supreme Court's decision to stay out of the case leaves legal uncertainty for Visa and Mastercard, which already have been defending the case for a decade."