US: Emails could jeopardize swipe-fee settlement

The discovery of emails between opposing lawyers who are also close friends is threatening to scuttle the 2012 $6-billion class-action antitrust settlement between Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and millions of merchants–including convenience-store retailers–over the setting of interchange or “swipe” fees for consumers to use credit or debit cards, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Lawyers representing merchants including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Home Depot Inc. and 7-Eleven Inc. are expected on July 28 to formally notify the card networks that they will seek to undo the three-year-old pact, people familiar with the plans told the newspaper.

Those lawyers are expected to take the same steps in a similar case involving a pending $79-million settlement involving American Express Co. and approximately the same group of merchants, the people said.

While investigating the actions of Keila Ravelo, who represented MasterCard in the antitrust case when she was a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Willkie Farr discovered emails and documents that were exchanged between Ravelo and Gary Friedman, who represented merchants through Friedman Law Group LLC. The two lawyers were colleagues at another firm early in their careers. The merchants plan to contend that the communication between them involved confidential information and resulted in the merchants getting inadequate representation, sources said.

Full content: The Wall Street Journal

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