U.K. Card Fee Controversy Could Cost MasterCard $1.6B

MasterCard’s European woes over interchange just keep on coming as WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc is leading a group of U.K. retailers that are hoping to add more than a $1 billion in damages from MasterCard Inc. in their antitrust suit over payment fees, reports Bloomberg.

“This is deliberate breach of competition law,” said Fergus Randolph, a lawyer for WM Morrison, seeking a court order forcing MasterCard to hand over internal e-mails.

Randolph says the payment company has tried to conceal information about how it set the fees.

MasterCard in London offered no immediate response to Bloomberg’s request for comment on the suite,  though in court documents the company called allegations that it is involved in an active scheme to conceal information “fanciful.”

The company further noted it cannot search internal messages before a court hearing scheduled for January on whether the six-year limit applied.

The courts decision as to whether MasterCard is liable for 20 years worth of fees as opposed to the six that the law’s statute of limitations would imply, “could affect the quantum of the claims by more than 1 billion pounds,” WM Morrison said in its legal documents. Retailers will only be able to claim for breaches starting in 2006. if the limitation applies.

UPDATE 10/1: The following statement was available shortly after the hearing.

“MasterCard welcomes the decision to reject the Claimants’ additional demands for disclosure.  It remains MasterCard’s position that there was no concealment of the sort alleged by the Claimants. There will be a final determination of this preliminary issue in January 2015.  While this was just a procedural decision MasterCard continues to deny the Claimants’ are entitled to any damages.”