- A specialist London court is set to reconsider permitting a historic $19 billion class action suit against Mastercard to proceed.
- The ruling will determine the fate of Britain’s first mass consumer claim.
- If successful, it will entitle all British adults to some 300 pounds each.
LONDON, England: This week, a specialist London court is set to reconsider permitting a historic $19 billion class action lawsuit against Mastercard to proceed, which will determine the fate of Britain’s first mass consumer claim and, if successful, entitle all adults to some 300 pounds each.
Former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks hoped the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) would certify the case after the UK Supreme Court, in December, overruled objections to it continuing.
Merricks, who is being advised by U.S.-headquartered law firm Quinn Emanuel, alleges that Mastercard overcharged more than 46 million people through excessive “interchange” fees between May 1992 and June 2008. Retailers pay interchange fees to credit card companies when consumers use a card to shop. These, he said, were passed on to consumers as retailers raised prices.
Mastercard claims the lawsuit is driven by U.S. lawyers and backed by organisations focused on making money for themselves.
“We fundamentally disagree with this claim…,” it said, adding that people received valuable benefits from its payments technology.
Legal arguments are expected to partly focus on whether estates of the deceased should have a claim and if compound interest should accrue, which are “significant” for the ultimate size of the claim, Mastercard says.
The case was filed in 2016, one year after the CAT was chosen to oversee the case and 12 years after the European Commission ruled that Mastercard had charged unlawful cross-border interchange fees during the period.
If the case proceeds, Merricks will need to prove that Mastercard’s domestic fees were illegal and quantify the costs passed on to consumers.
As for the legal costs of the case, litigation funder Innsworth Capital has paid 60.1 million pounds, including 15 million pounds for Mastercard’s legal costs if the claim fails.
