A federal appeals court has approved the settlement of a class action lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard.

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The settlement agreement was approved on March 15. As part of this agreement, the companies agreed to pay $5.6 billion to 12 million sellers who initiated antitrust proceedings.

The court also rejected the appeal of those who were against the approved method of settlement and filed claims about errors in class certification, approval of the settlement agreement, awarding bonuses for services, and calculating lawyers’ fees.

The court’s decision was the result of a trial that lasted 15 years. Sellers blamed Visa and Mastercard for the damage that arose due to the charging of super-competitive fees for transactions on payment cards.

A group of gas station owners objected to the settlement, they debated with oil companies about who was more affected by the fees. The judge ruled that this situation can be resolved in court, but it should not cause a delay in payments to other plaintiffs.

The settlement agreement worth $5.6 billion was approved by the court after the previous agreement worth $7.25 billion, approved by another judge, was annulled by the Court of Appeal because the interests of some retailers were ignored.

The decision came about two months after Visa told the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it was cooperating with the Justice Department’s investigation. As part of this investigation, additional documents and information related to debit transactions in the United States and competition with other payment networks were requested.

The antitrust division of the Ministry of Justice launched an investigation into Visa in 2021. The reason for these actions was called processes with debit cards that violate the rules of competition. Visa’s possible involvement in banning retailers from sending transactions via networks with cheaper cards was studied.

As we have reported earlier, Mastercard and Google Launch Google Pay in Kuwait.