As Class Counsel for a nationwide class of hundreds of thousands of merchants, Robbins LLP achieved a settlement providing for a common fund of $231,700,000. This outstanding result took nearly a decade of litigation against some of the largest companies in the country—Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover—in turn represented by some of the largest and most prominent law firms.  We alleged an anticompetitive conspiracy where the defendants agreed to adopt EMV chip technology for credit cards in the United States in the same manner, with the same policies. Most significantly, these policies included the Fraud Liability Shift—a triggering date by which any merchants who were not yet ready to accept EMV technology at their point of sale could potentially be held liable for any fraud on EMV chip cards used after that date.  This was a significant shift for merchants, as those losses were typically borne by issuing banks, rather than merchants. The transition to EMV in the United States was complicated and fraught with difficulties, leading many merchants not to be ready by the Fraud Liability Shift deadline.  Even some merchants who purchased the required terminals to accept the EMV chip cards could not get them properly certified in time and still found themselves facing these new chargebacks.  Yet, the defendants remained united in their policies.

The case was initially brought in March 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP.  We began working with Robbins Geller in May 2016 as additional counsel.  In mid-July 2017, the case was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. At that point, Robbins LLP took the leading role and were appointed as sole Class Counsel following Robbins Geller's withdrawal as counsel. From there, we engaged in sprawling fact and expert discovery efforts, building on what had been done thus far. This work included the review and analysis of a massive discovery record that included nearly two million documents, and taking nearly fifty additional depositions including some of the most senior-ranking individuals at the Networks. We worked with two prominent experts, including a law professor and one of the country's leading cartel experts, generating numerous reports. Working with these experts, we also rebutted the opinions of the seven experts presented by defendants.

Our work as Class Counsel involved significant motion practice, including several rounds of briefing on class certification. We eventually obtained certification for the class for the full two-year class period we sought. At the conclusion of discovery, defendants filed two motions to decertify the class, five Daubert motions, and three motions for summary judgment. We defeated these motions essentially in their entirety, as well as a motion to compel arbitration. We reached settlements with the defendants in December 2024, May 2025, and September 2025, only after years of hard-fought litigation.

In granting final approval of the settlements in full, Judge Cogan of the Eastern District of New York described them as an “excellent outcome.” That excellent outcome reflects the skillful and capable work by our firm as Class Counsel.

B&R Supermarket, Inc., et al. v. VISA, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-02738 (E.D. N.Y. Apr. 28, 2026).