[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday denied [order list, PDF] a petition to revive a $7.25 billion antitrust settlement with Visa and Mastercard [corporate websites] over claims the corporations illegally filed debit and credit card fees. The court left in place a decision [opinion] by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] to throw out a settlement [JURIST report] because some retailers stood to receive no payments or derive any benefit from the settlement. The retailers reached the settlement after claiming Visa and MasterCard were overcharging on “swipe fees,” which charged retailers an average of 2 percent of the transaction when the purchaser used a card, and barred the retailers from directing purchasers toward alternative payment methods. The settlement would have been the largest antitrust settlement in US history.

Visa and MasterCard had reportedly hoped [Reuters report] that the settlement would be upheld in order to put an end to a near decade-long dispute that encompassed roughly 12 million retailers. Some of the retailers decided to opt out of the settlement because they claimed they would not receive adequate compensation and for fears that the settlement would make it too difficult to sue Visa and MasterCard in the future. The settlement was also opposed by American Express and Discover Financial Services. A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District Court of New York [official website] initially approved [opinion, PDF] the settlement in 2013 before it was overturned by the Second Circuit in 2016.