NEW YORK A group of the nation’s biggest retailers, including Target, Kohl’s, TJX Cos., Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Office Depot, urged a federal judge to keep alive their interchange fee antitrust class action against Visa and MasterCard, rejecting arguments from the credit card giants that the merchants’ claims are barred by the terms of a settlement in a previous suit.
The retailers argued that the settlement in the previous case, known as Visa Check, only covers anti-competitive activity prior to 2004. By contrast, their new suit, filed in May, alleges new antitrust violations since that time.
The new antitrust suit, filed May 24, came as the same merchants are fighting a landmark antitrust settlement in which Visa and MasterCard have agreed to pay merchants $6.2 million in exchange for, among other provisions, a bar to future antitrust suits. A group of big banks have agreed to pay another $1 billion to merchants as part of the settlement. The companies have asked a federal judge in New York to reject the terms of the settlement because of the prohibition on additional claims, among other elements.
In this suit the retailers claim Visa and MasterCard illegally restrained competition for interchange fees by setting default rates and imposing almost identical rules for accepting cards. “Plaintiffs have paid and continue to pay significantly higher costs to accept Visa-branded and MasterCard-branded credit and debit cards than they would if the banks issuing such cards competed for merchant acceptance,” the suit states.
The other plaintiffs in this antitrust suit include: Bloomingdale’s, Sierra Trading Post, Staples, Viking Office Products, Henri Bendel, Victoria’s Secret, The Limited, Bath & Body Works, Big Lots, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Saks, Lane Bryant and more.
