BROOKLYN, N.Y. - At the end of what was supposed to have been the first week of the Wal-Mart trial, there were nothing but smiles and handshakes as lawyers for the retailers, Visa U.S.A., and MasterCard International submitted a time line for wrapping up the settlement by September.
The settlement will be executed on June 4, and throughout July all five million retailers in the class will be notified of the terms, which include $3 billion of back payments, the untying of debit card from credit card acceptance, and a reduction in the interchange rates for signature-based debit by at least a third.
The retailers will have a chance to object to the terms, but Lloyd Constantine, the lead counsel for the merchants, said he does not anticipate many of them will.
By all accounts, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will be the biggest beneficiary. Still facing Visa and MasterCard are separate suits from Home Depot Inc., Toys R Us Inc., and the grocery chains Meijer Stores LP and Giant Eagle Inc., which opted out of the class action.
"It is as important to Visa and MasterCard as it is to us to have this work seamlessly and efficiently," Mr. Constantine said in remarks following the conference Friday.
Even Judge John Gleeson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York was jovial at Friday's session. Holding up the timer that was supposed to have kept the parties to a strict schedule, he told attorneys: "You have 120 hours."
Judge Gleeson, who was a key force in driving the parties toward an agreement, earned high praise from lawyers. In a press conference Thursday, Mr. Constantine said the judge had "commandeered the courthouse" to bring about a settlement - making jury rooms, courtrooms, and his own chambers available.
The "11th-hour settlement" with MasterCard, announced last Monday morning, rattled the roomful of reporters, as well as Visa's attorneys. By 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Visa had settled, too.
With the multibillion-dollar class action - in which the nation's retailers challenged the card networks that handle a large chunk of their sales volume - behind them, opposing lawyers greeted and complimented each other on Friday.
Representing Visa was Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP; for MasterCard, Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; and for the retailers, Constantine & Partners PC. (All but Heller Ehrman, of San Francisco, are based in New York.)
In an interview Thursday, MasterCard's second-in-command, Alan J. Heuer, said the case had "consumed a fair amount of time and management attention over the years and, in recent times, substantial legal fees."
Noah Hanft, MasterCard's general counsel, said that a major reason for settling was to stop the case from dragging on any longer, since one side would have appealed no matter the outcome.
Already there have been reports of various law firms making case studies out of the suit. The lesson: Here is what happens when you wait too long to settle.
