Federal Judge Again Throws Out Antitrust Lawsuit Against Visa

According to Bloomberg, US District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. of the Northern District of California granted Visa’s motion to dismiss an amended complaint filed by MiCamp Solutions LLC, an Arizona-based provider of electronic credit and debit card services. The judge concluded that MiCamp did not adequately allege that it was a merchant that suffered a cognizable antitrust injury, a key requirement for standing under federal law.

The decision, issued Thursday, follows an earlier dismissal in which the court identified similar deficiencies. Per Bloomberg, Judge Gilliam found that MiCamp’s revised pleading did not fix those problems, even after the company narrowed its claims and reworked its description of its role in the payments ecosystem.

MiCamp alleged that Visa unlawfully monopolized and attempted to monopolize the market for card payment processing services. The company challenged Visa rules that limit surcharging, cash discounting, and the ability of merchants to steer customers toward alternative payment options such as cash, ACH transfers, or cryptocurrency. However, the court said the complaint failed to plausibly show harm to competition itself, as opposed to harm to MiCamp as an individual business.

Related: Visa and Mastercard Reach Landmark Settlement to End Longstanding Fee Dispute

According to Bloomberg, the judge emphasized that antitrust law is designed to protect competitive markets, not individual competitors. Even assuming Visa’s rules restricted certain merchant practices, the court found that MiCamp did not present concrete facts showing reduced output, higher prices, or diminished competition in the relevant market.

The case was heard in federal court in Oakland, California, under the caption MiCamp Solutions, LLC v. Visa Inc., No. 4:23-cv-06351-HSG. The ruling dismissed MiCamp’s second amended complaint, marking the second time the court has rejected its antitrust claims.

MiCamp provides services that help merchants accept electronic card payments. In its lawsuit, the company argued that Visa’s network rules caused it financial harm, strained its relationships with merchants, and limited consumer choice by discouraging alternatives to Visa-branded cards. The court, however, characterized these allegations as largely conclusory and unsupported by specific market facts.

Earlier versions of the lawsuit portrayed MiCamp as a middleman operating between merchants, acquiring banks, issuing banks, and payment networks such as Visa. The original complaint was filed as a proposed class action and included a broader range of federal and state law claims. Those claims were later narrowed as the case progressed.

Source: Bloomberg