[gonzo]

Originally posted by *KK*@May 21 2003, 11:01 AM
---------------------------------
Class Action Lawsuit Filed
---------------------------------
Posted Tuesday, May 20, 2003

It was announced today that a Merchant 911 member, also an attorney, has filed a class action lawsuit naming Visa, Mastercard, AmEx and Discover. The class action suit charges the defendants with violation of several Federal Laws including anti-Racketeering laws. All Merchant 911 members, as well as other e-commerce or MO/TO Merchants are invited to join the litigation.

Below is the text of the Law Firm's official Press Release ...

The Triangle Law Center, PLLC, a North Carolina based law firm, announced that it commenced a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on behalf of all Internet, telephone and mail order merchants against Visa U.S.A., Inc., MasterCard International, Inc., American Express Company and Discover Financial Services, Inc (collectively, the "Defendants"). A copy of the complaint filed in this action is available from the Court.

The action, numbered 5:03-CV-372-BO(3), is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina located at 310 New Bern Avenue in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Honorable Terrence W. Boyle is the Judge presiding over the case. To join this class action litigation as a plaintiff or for further information, please call Mark W. Ishman, Esq.
at (919) 942-1410 or e-mail mishman@ishmanlaw.com or join the class online at www.ishmanlaw.com.

The complaint charges that Visa, MasterCard and their co-conspirators (i.e., their issuing and acquiring banks) violated Section 1962© and 1962(d) of the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act, Section 16 of the Clayton Act, Section 2(a) of the Robinson-Patman Act and other unlawful business practice violations by conspiring to commit fraud and theft
through means of wire and mail when processing merchants' Internet, telephone and mail order transactions. The complaint alleges that the Defendants breached their contract, their implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, duty of care and fiduciary duty as a banking institution by failing to take appropriate measures in addressing fraud and theft in the Internet, telephone and mail order industry. The complaint further alleges that Visa and MasterCard failed to disclose certain supra competitive transactional and penalty fees to Internet, telephone and mail order merchants and forced such merchants to pay such supra competitive fees with the abuse of their monopolistic powers.

Moreover, many of these supra competitive fees were only stated in their unpublished rules and regulations, which were never disclosed to merchants at the time of contracting. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that in "cybershoplifting" scenarios, there are virtually no set of facts or documentation in which an Internet, telephone and mail order merchant could argue to prevent Defendants from debiting penalty fees from their merchant accounts. As a result of these unlawful acts, according to the complaint, Internet, telephone and mail order merchants have paid virtually all of the costs associated with fraud and theft in their industry while Defendants made millions of dollars from their supra competitive transactional and penalty fees.

If you wish to join the litigation or to discuss your rights or interests regarding this class action, please contact plaintiffs' counsel, Mark W. Ishman, Esq. of the Triangle Law Center at (919) 942-1410 or via e-mail at mishman@ishmanlaw.com. You can also join this class action online at www.ishmanlaw.com.

The Triangle Law Center www.ishmanlaw.com has expertise in representing high tech, Internet based companies. The Triangle Law Center represents clients throughout the nation and world, concentrating its practice in Internet, Intellectual Property and Business law.

..."And so it begins."