In a last-minute interchange settlement objection filed on Tuesday (May 28), Walmart and more than 60 other retailers described the proposed settlement as worse than actually losing the case. The settlement will block future lawsuits over Visa and MasterCard rules, practices or actions—and that includes PCI and breach penalties.
That goes far beyond the original lawsuit, which only covered default interchange rules, honor-all-cards rules and anti-steering rules. If the case went to trial and lost every claim, that would still just lock in the card brands' control of interchange and card-acceptance rules. But the proposed settlement would go far beyond that—extending to block any challenge to PCI and breach penalties.
