Class action lawsuits were brought in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Québec
against Visa, Mastercard and a number of banks that issue their credit cards (the "Issuing Banks") on
behalf of all merchants in Canada who accept those credit cards. The lawsuits allege a conspiracy in
setting higher interchange fees paid by merchants to accept Visa and Mastercard credit cards, and other
restrictions. The allegations are denied.
Settlements of class action lawsuits must be approved by the Courts before they are effective. To date,
four settlements with Issuing Banks have been approved, and the net proceeds of those settlements are
being held for distribution at a later date. There are three new settlements with National Bank, Visa and
Mastercard which provide for payments of CAD $6 million (by National Bank), and CAD$19.5 million
(by each of Visa and Mastercard) for a total of $45 million for the benefit of the Settlement Class, and
cooperation in the continuing action against the defendants that have not settled. The settlements with
Visa and Mastercard also provide modification of "no surcharge rules" that prevented merchants from
surcharging credit card use. In exchange, Settlement Class Members give the settling parties and related
entities a full release.
Hearings to consider whether these proposed settlements should be approved, and if so, the amounts
payable to class action lawyers will take place as follows:
Vancouver
June 25, 2018
10:00 a.m.
Supreme Court of
British Columbia
Calgary
July 5, 2018
10:00 a.m.
Alberta Court of
Queen's Bench
Regina
July 6, 2018
10:00 a.m.
Court of Queen's
Bench for
Saskatchewan
Toronto
July 12, 2018
10:00 a.m.
Ontario Superior
Court of Justice
Montréal
August 21, 2018
8:45 a.m.
Superior Court of
Québec
YOU ARE A SETTLEMENT CLASS MEMBER IF YOU ARE A MERCHANT WHO
ACCEPTED VISA / MASTERCARD CREDIT CARDS AFTER MARCH 23, 2001
YOU HAVE DIFFERENT OPTIONS DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU RESIDE AND
WHEN YOU BEGAN ACCEPTING VISA / MASTERCARD CREDIT CARDS
• All settlement class members can comment on the proposed settlement. You can do so by delivering
comments to the court-appointed Administrator at PO Box 2312, 349 W Georgia St., Vancouver BC
V6B 1Y0 by JUNE 21, 2018.
• Some merchants are being called upon to decide whether to continue to participate in the lawsuits (and
benefit from the settlements). Participation is automatic unless the merchant opts out.
• For most merchants, the right to opt out was given with past settlements and has expired.
However, merchants in Québec and "new merchants" (who only began accepting credit cards after
September 4, 2015) have a limited time to decide whether to opt out from the lawsuits (and from the
settlements). Opt out requests must be received by MAY 31, 2018.
This is just a summary. Full details of the proposed settlement and information about Settlement
Class membership and options including how to attend hearings and opt out are posted on
www.creditcardsettlements.ca, or are available from one of the Class Action Lawyers below.
IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK WITH A LAWYER, EMAIL lawyer@creditcardsettlements.ca
OR CALL ANY OF THE CLASS ACTION LAWYERS BELOW AT NO COST TO YOU:
Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman
David Jones
(604) 689-7555
Branch MacMaster
Luciana Brasil
(604) 654-2999
Consumer Law Group
Jeff Orenstein
(888) 909-7863, ext. 2
www.creditcardsettlements.ca • (877) 283-6548
LEGAL NOTICE
TO ALL MERCHANTS WHO ACCEPT VISA
OR MASTERCARD CREDIT CARDS
