Visa, Mastercard Win Dismissal Of Long-Running ATM Fee Antitrust Case
By CU Today Staff —
WASHINGTON—Visa and Mastercard have won dismissal of a long-running antitrust class action brought by independent ATM operators that challenged rules governing the fees machine owners can charge consumers.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon on Wednesday ruled on competing summary-judgment motions and dismissed the case, according to Law360 and the federal court docket.
The National ATM Council and independent ATM operators filed the case in 2011, alleging Visa and Mastercard violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act through rules that prohibit ATM operators participating in their networks from charging lower access fees for transactions routed over competing networks. The operators argued the rules restricted price competition and prevented them from passing along savings available through less-expensive networks.
The litigation survived an earlier dismissal and eventually became a certified class action. The D.C. Circuit upheld class certification, and in April 2024 the U.S. Supreme Court declined Visa and Mastercard's request to review that decision. At the time, the ATM-operator class included about 3,400 independent operators and was part of litigation seeking more than $9 billion in damages. Visa and Mastercard denied violating antitrust law.
The ruling involves the ATM-operator case and is separate from consumer litigation over the same ATM access-fee rules. Visa and Mastercard reached settlements resolving consumer claims, while Visa disclosed earlier this year that both sides in the National ATM Council case had filed summary-judgment motions in February.
Originally reported by CU Today.