In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation

The firm is representing more than 60 major merchants and merchant trade associations in an antitrust suit against Visa, Mastercard and certain of their member banks for engaging in alleged anticompetitive conduct in payment card markets. The merchants represented by the firm include the following: Amazon.com, 7-Eleven, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Alon, American Multi-Cinema, Ashley Furniture, Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Beall’s, Boscov’s, Brookshire’s, The Buckle, Children’s Place, Coborn’s, Costco, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Cumberland Farms, D’Agostino’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dillard’s, Drury Hotels, Crate & Barrel and CB2, Land of Nod, Express, Family Dollar, Family Express, The Mills Companies, Foot Locker, The Gap, Genesco, GNC Holdings, Gulf Oil, HMSHost, IKEA, Jetro Cash & Carry, Lowe’s, Marathon Petroleum, Michaels Stores, National Association of Convenience Stores, National Grocers Association, Amtrak, New York & Company, NIKE, P.C. Richard’s, PacSun, Panda Restaurant Group, Panera, Petco, Priceline Group, Ralph Lauren, REI, Republic Services, Restoration Hardware, Sears, Speedway, Starbucks, Stein Mart, Swarovski, Talbots, Thermo Fisher, Thorntons, Wet Seal, Whole Foods, Carter’s, and Yum! Brands. The firm brought this suit after being retained by dozens of entities to oppose a proposed settlement of a class action brought against Visa and Mastercard. The firm represented many of the above merchants, other merchants and 10 of the 19 named plaintiffs, including all six named plaintiff trade associations in the class action, in litigation that went up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which eventually ruled in favor of the firm and its clients in rejecting the settlement.