San Francisco federal judge allows a class-action lawsuit brought by retailers over new chip card readers to proceed against credit card companies
Bloomberg News reports that Visa, MasterCard and American Express lost an early round of a lawsuit alleging that the card companies colluded to stick fraudulent transactions on merchants who did not meet the October 2015 EMV deadline.
PYMNTS.com writes that Florida-based B&R Supermarket Inc. and Grove Liquors LLC are suing on behalf of merchants nationwide and filed the complaint as a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Bloomberg writes that U.S. District Judge William Alsup allowed the antitrust suit to proceed, saying that the two Florida retailers “plausibly allege an impermissible conspiracy” by major credit card companies to impose the same penalty on merchants not using a certified chip card reader by October 1, 2015.
“We are disappointed that the court denied our motion,” Seth Eisen, a MasterCard spokesman, commented to Bloomberg, adding, “As we move into the next phase of the process, we believe we have a strong case that will allow us to put this matter behind us and focus on driving our business and relationships with our customers.”
Issuing banks named as defendants were dismissed from the case, but Judge Alsup said they could be added back if the retailers present more evidence.
