Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro Cases

Visa/MasterCard Litigation

Date Filed: January 1, 1996

Court: U.S. District Court

Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Hagens Berman filed suit against credit card giants VISA and MasterCard, challenging charges the companies imposed in connection with use of debit cards. Hagens Berman attorney Steve Berman was recently appointed co-lead counsel in this matter, and will help direct all the lawyers working on the case by setting strategy and providing oversight on all matters.

The suit recently received national attention as a result of the Wall Street Journal successfully arguing a motion to release thousands of pages of evidence due to significant public interest.

According to the Wall Street Journal article, published on November 14, 2002, court documents depict Visa and Mastercard as paying out millions of dollars to drive-down rival debit-card transactions, demanding that merchants take their debit cards or lose access to credit-card sales, and even trying to disguise their debit cards so merchants couldn't tell them from credit cards.

The article stated that nearly every retailer in the nation would be included as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Major retailers involved with the suit include Wal-Mart, Sears Roebuck & Company and Safeway.

A New York Times article from the same date noted that, executives at the card companies, the retailers assert, hoped that creating similar-looking cards would steer merchants to unintentionally process the debit cards as though they were credit cards, leading to higher transaction costs.

For full details on the litigation, including court documents, summary judgments and answers to frequent questions, go to: www.InReVisaCheckMasterMoneyAntitrustLitigation.com

Filed in 1996 in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, the suit was recently cleared to proceed as a class action by the Supreme Court. On June 21, 2002 Judge Gleason ordered that merchants who have accepted for payment MasterCard or Visa credit card and debit transaction since October 25, 1992 be notified on the pending litigation. A trial has been set for April 2003. Read the class notice and supporting documents in the right-hand column for more information.