A lawsuit accusing Apple, Visa, and Mastercard of colluding to inflate payment processing fees for merchants has been dismissed by a federal judge. Despite this ruling, the legal battle may not be over just yet.
The case was initiated in 2023 by Mirage Wine & Spirits, among other businesses, alleging that Apple’s agreements with Visa and Mastercard prevented it from creating a competitive payment network.
In the original lawsuit, it was claimed, “In exchange for agreeing not to compete with Visa and Mastercard in the Relevant Market, the two card networks offered Apple a very large and ongoing cash bribe. They agreed to pay Apple 15 basis points (i.e., 0.15%) on the value of all U.S. credit transactions and 0.5 cents ($0.005) on all U.S. debit transactions initiated with Apple Pay at the POS on their respective networks. Even as Apple Pay was in its infancy, the Entrenched Networks and Apple understood that this bribe would amount to hundreds of millions of dollars per year.”
However, on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Dugan indicated that the plaintiffs did not provide sufficient evidence to support their case. He emphasized that the lawsuit mostly consisted of “a slew of circumstantial allegations” that lacked the substance to demonstrate any actual shared practices among the companies. The judge also pointed out that the plaintiffs failed to show any definitive plans from Apple to challenge Visa and Mastercard directly in the payments infrastructure arena.
Despite the dismissal, the judge allowed the plaintiffs 30 days to revise and resubmit their complaint, stating, “As requested, Plaintiffs shall file a Second Amended Class Action Complaint, if any, within 30 days. Failing to timely file a Second Amended Class Action Complaint will result in a dismissal of the case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b).”
As of now, Apple has not issued a comment regarding the ruling, while Mastercard chose not to respond, and Visa has not provided any immediate comments. All three companies have consistently denied any wrongdoing.
