NACS has learned that the Court involved in interchange litigation (known as “In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation”) has denied two more motions for summary judgment from defendants, including Visa and Mastercard in the case.

While Judge Margo K. Brodie’s official opinion and reasoning have not yet been released, the determination already has been made public. The brief entry in the docket for the case states:

“(T)he Court denies in part [8067] and denies [8925] Defendants' motions for summary judgment based on Illinois Brick standing and on Plaintiffs' post-IPO claims. The Court also denies [8097] and [8184] Direct Action Plaintiffs' motions for partial summary judgment. The parties are directed to confer and submit proposed redactions on or before March 7, 2024. The portion of [8067] Defendants' motion for summary judgment regarding Plaintiffs' monopolization claims is not addressed in this Memorandum and Order and remains under consideration.”

The ruling is another win for NACS and other retail groups that have pushed for moving this lawsuit to trial.

“This is a big victory for retailers, and we look forward to the Court setting a trial date so that we can prove that Visa, Mastercard, and the largest banks have been violating the antitrust laws,” said Doug Kantor, Merchants Payment Coalition executive committee member and NACS general counsel.

In March 2023, a federal appeals court upheld a $5.6 billion antitrust class-action settlement consisting of more than 12 million retailers. The claims process is now moving forward as claims forms began mailing on December 1, 2023, and forms must be filed by May 31, 2024, in order to claim funds from the settlement. The official website of the settlement and information about the claims process can be found here.

The lawsuit is about the excessive fees merchants had to pay in order to accept Visa and Mastercard cards after the companies violated antitrust laws. With the settlement, every merchant in the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class that did not exclude itself from the class by the deadline and filed a valid claim (“Authorized Claimant”) will be paid from the settlement fund. The part of the litigation challenging Visa and Mastercard’s rules and price setting is continuing.