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Washington, D.C. A pair of Visa and Mastercard consumers asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge on Wednesday to greenlight a $197.5 million class settlement that would resolve claims that the credit card companies conspired with major banks to fix ATM access fees.

Mastercard and Visa, which are accused of essentially setting a price floor for all ATM access fees throughout the country, reached an agreement with consumers on May 2. In a motion for preliminary approval, plaintiffs Andrew Mackmin and Sam Osborn told the court that the proposed deal is an "excellent result" for the settlement class and, along with the $66.74 million deal the consumers reached with Bank of America and other financial institutions in 2020, would mark the end of the nearly 13-year-old litigation.

The settlement class's total recovery of $264.24 million between the two settlements represents between 23.1% and 38.2% of the maximum single damages they might have recovered at trial, the motion states. The plaintiffs argued that this rate of recovery is exceptional, particularly for antitrust class actions, and falls comfortably within the range of reasonableness warranting preliminary approval. They highlighted the uncertainties, risks, and delays associated with proceeding to trial, suggesting that the settlement would deliver immediate and assured relief.

In the latest version of the suit from 2015, the plaintiffs claimed that the financial companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America, Chase Bank, and Wells Fargo, made unlawful agreements that effectively set a price floor for all ATM access fees throughout the country, depriving consumers of the benefits of natural price competition.

In October 2020, the consumers reached a $66.7 million settlement with the bank defendants, including payments from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase, which they described as an excellent result for the proposed class. In March 2022, settlement class counsel asked for more than $20 million in fees for the over 30,500 hours invested in the litigation, along with $10 million in litigation expenses. Despite objections from a class member regarding the fee request, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon granted final approval of the deal and the fee request in August 2022.

In their motion for preliminary approval of the Visa and Mastercard settlement, the consumers noted that the proposed settlement followed an all-day mediation session in March, which resulted in a term sheet and was finalized on May 2. They emphasized that their damages expert calculated a "low" estimate of $691.9 million, a "middle-range" estimate of $858.8 million, and a "high" estimate of $1.14 billion, making the $197.5 million settlement significant given the risks of continued litigation.

The class' co-lead counsel at Hagens Berman, Quinn Emanuel, and Mehri & Skalet plan to seek attorney fees of up to 33% — or about $65 million — of the settlement fund, according to the motion. The settlement class is defined as those who paid an unreimbursed ATM access fee directly to any bank defendant or alleged bank co-conspirator for a foreign ATM transaction using a U.S.-issued ATM card to withdraw cash at an ATM located in the U.S. from Oct. 1, 2007, to the date of the preliminary approval order. The plaintiffs estimate the class could be as large as 175 million to 215 million individuals.

The consumers are represented by Steve W. Berman, Ben Harrington, and Benjamin J. Siegel of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Adam B. Wolfson and Viola Trebicka of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, and Steven A. Skalet of Mehri & Skalet PLLC. Visa is represented by Matthew Eisenstein and Rosemary Szanyi of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP. Mastercard is represented by Mitchell D. Webber of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP.

The case is Andrew Mackmin et al. v. Visa Inc. et al., case number 1:11-cv-01831, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.