FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Supreme Court Declines to Review Class Certification of ATM Operator Class in Antitrust Case Against Mastercard and Visa
- The Supreme Court declined to review a D.C. district court’s class certification of a class of independent ATM Operators and two consumer classes in the long-running National ATM Council v. Visa, et al. litigation filed in 2011.
- Mastercard and Visa had petitioned the Court for certiorari review of the certifications, which were affirmed by the D.C. Court of Appeals, but the high Court rejected the petition, with Justice Kavanaugh taking no part in the decision.
- The decision greenlights class actions brought by independent ATM Operators and the consumer classes challenging anticompetitive network rules.
- This marks the second time the card companies have failed to get the Supreme Court to thwart these actions.
Washington, DC – April 15, 2024 – An antitrust case brought by a nationwide class of independent (non-bank) ATM Operators can move forward against Visa and Mastercard after the Supreme Court denied the bankcard companies’ petition for certiorari review of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2023 decision affirming the district court’s certification of the three classes.
The ATM Operators, represented by MoginRubin LLP, a specialty antitrust law firm, allege that Visa and Mastercard network rules violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The appeals court found that all three classes satisfied the requirement of the rules for class actions, including the requirement that common questions must predominate over individualized issues.
“The petition was not well-founded,” said Jonathan Rubin, counsel for the ATM Operator class. “Mastercard and Visa tried to claim that there was some circuit conflict over the law governing the evidentiary standards for certifying a class. That’s just not true. The federal law on class certification has been well-settled for several years now,” Rubin said. “In light of that,” he said, “the Supreme Court’s rejection of the petition seemed to be obvious.”
The Independent Operator Class is represented by Jonathan Rubin, Dan Mogin, Tim LaComb, and Joy Sidhwa of MoginRubin LLP.
The case is National ATM Council Inc., et al. v. Visa Inc., et al., No. 1:11-CV-01803-RJL, (D.D.C., filed October 12, 2011); No. 21-7109 (D.C. Cir., 2023); No. 23-814 (Sup. Ct.).
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