Discover Financial Services, et al. v. Visa U.S.A. Inc., Visa International Service Association, MasterCard Incorporated and MasterCard International Incorporated

In October 2008 Constantine Cannon and its co-counsel secured a settlement of $2.75 billion, the third largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history, for Discover Financial Services. Constantine Cannon’s prosecution of the case was led by Jeffrey I. Shinder and Matthew L. Cantor, who were also among the lead attorneys in the In Re Visa Check class action. Discover sued Visa and MasterCard for damages sustained as a result of Visa’s and MasterCard’s exclusionary rules that, from the early 1990s until 2004, prohibited U.S. banks from issuing Discover credit and debit cards to their customers. This action followed from the decision in United States v. Visa U.S.A. Inc., Civ. No. 98-7076 (S.D.N.Y.) (BSJ), which held that the implementation and enforcement of Visa Bylaw 2.10(e) and MasterCard’s Competitive Programs Policy violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act.