MasterCard/Visa Antitrust Suit Claim Forms in the Mail This Fall

With all appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court having been denied or having expired, the Visa Check/MasterMoney antitrust class action lawsuit is now finalized. Claim forms will be sent to the millions of merchants who are members of the Class by the end of September. Any bookstore that accepted Visa and MasterCard debit cards between October 25, 1992, and July 31, 2003, is automatically included in the Class.

Once a claim form is received, a merchant has 60 days to respond. However, merchants who wish to challenge the settlement must do so within 30 days.

In a July Advisory, Constantine Cannon, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, noted that "there will be free help available so that no merchant will need to hire any outside vendor to assist in filling out the claim form or collecting the settlement money to which that merchant is entitled."

The suit against Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International Inc. was first filed in October 1996 by U.S. merchants that argued Visa and MasterCard's "honor all cards" practice -- requiring retailers to accept both credit cards and the Visa/MasterCard debit cards -- was a violation of federal antitrust law. Plaintiffs in the case included about 20 of the nation's largest retailers, including Wal-Mart and Sears, Roebuck & Co. In addition to the named plaintiffs, the lawsuit was a class action representing any merchant that had accepted Visa or MasterCard debit cards since October 1992, or approximately five million large and small retailers, including independent booksellers.

The settlement in the Visa Check/MasterMoney lawsuit provides over $3.38 billion in compensatory relief and an injunction valued by the court in the range of $25 to $87 billion to U.S. merchants, according to a July 20 Advisory from Constantine to the merchants in the Class.

Each merchant will receive a percentage of the damages based on its volume of debit and credit card transactions between October 25, 1992, and July 31, 2003, meaning larger retailers will receive a larger percentage. However, in September 2003, Constantine told BTW, "Even with a small store, the claim could likely be a couple hundred dollars."

According to the "Plan of Allocation" submitted by the lead counsel in August 2003, "approximately 70 percent of the damages suffered by Class members were off-line debit damages; 21 percent were credit card damages; and nine percent were on-line debit damages.... Each Class Member is entitled to receive a portion of the Net Settlement Funds, which is directly proportional to its Visa and MasterCard off-line debit and credit card purchase volume and on-line debit transactions during the Class Period."

The "Plan of Allocation" will utilize Visa's database to estimate each merchant's damages, so booksellers should not be required to submit any data. However, booksellers that accepted online debit purchases will have to submit on the initial claim form information regarding when they began installing PIN pads, when they completed installing PIN pads, and what merchant category they are in.

For more information, go to http://www.inrevisacheck-mastermoneyantitrustlitigation.com/index.php3.

If a bookseller who accepted Visa and MasterCard debit cards between October 25, 1992, and July 31, 2003, doesn't receive a claim form by the end of September, he or she should call the claims administrator, Garden City Group, Inc., at (888) 641-4437. --David Grogan