B&R Supermarket v. Visa

This website has been set up because the Court in charge of this lawsuit has certified this case as a class action and requires that this website inform members of the Class about the case. If you received a Notice regarding this litigation, you were identified as a possible member of the Class. The Court in charge of this case is the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and the case is called B&R Supermarket, Inc., et al. v. Visa, Inc., et al., Case No. 17-cv-02738.

The purpose of this website is to inform you about this lawsuit, the certification of the case as a class action, and keep you apprised of the current status of the case, including the preliminary approval of the Settlements reached in this matter, and the options available to Class Members as a result of the proposed Settlements.

The lawsuit is a class action alleging that Defendants Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover violated antitrust laws by allegedly acting in concert to shift the liability for certain fraudulent charges on their networks to merchants when the card is enabled with EMV/chip technology and the merchant's terminal is not enabled for EMV/chip technology.

Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants violated antitrust laws by entering into a conspiracy to (1) adopt the same policy via nearly identical rules for shifting billions of dollars in liability from banks to merchants (“Liability Shift” or “Fraud Liability Shift” or “FLS”) for fraudulent charges (“chargebacks”) and (2) make the Liability Shift effective in the same month and in the same manner for all four networks.

The Parties have reached Settlement Agreements regarding this matter, and the Court provided preliminary approval of these Settlements on October 17, 2025, and final approval of these Settlements on April 28, 2026.

The Court has not decided whether the Defendants violated any laws.

Additional information about the litigation, including a copy of the Amended Complaint, copies of the proposed Settlement Agreements, copies of the Notices for both the Class Certification and Settlements phase of the litigation, and the preliminary and final approval orders, are available here.

In a class action, one or more people called class representatives (in this case, B&R Supermarket, Grove Liquors LLC, Strouk Group LLC, Palero Food Corp., and Cagueyes Food Corp.) sue on behalf of people who have similar claims. If the Court “certifies” the class (i.e., approves the case for class treatment), the Court resolves the issues for all class members except for those who “exclude” themselves from the class (otherwise known as “opting out” of the class and the class action).

Plaintiffs filed this action in March of 2016 in the Northern District of California. On July 15, 2016, Plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint, which the Defendants moved to dismiss. On September 30, 2016, the Court in the Northern District of California granted in part and denied in part the motions to dismiss the Amended Complaint. The Court dismissed the claims against all Defendants other than Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. On May 4, 2017, the Court transferred the case to the federal District Court in the Eastern District of New York, where it is now pending. On August 28, 2020, the Court certified this lawsuit as a class action on behalf of eligible merchants.

The Parties have reached Settlement Agreements regarding this matter, and the Court provided preliminary approval of those Settlements on October 17, 2025.

Notices surrounding the preliminary approval of the Settlements were sent in December 2025 to potential Class Members who have not previously excluded themselves. You can also find a copy of the Notice here.

The Court provided final approval of these Settlements on April 28, 2026.

There will be no payments to the Class at this time. Class Members will be notified later of an opportunity to file a Claim Form.

The deadline to object to these Settlements was January 26, 2026. All exclusion requests from this litigation were due no later than August 31, 2022.

Settlement agreements have been separately reached with (1) Amex ("Amex Settlement"), (2) Discover ("Discover Settlement"), and (3) Visa and Mastercard ("Visa/Mastercard Settlement").

If the Settlements reach their Effective Date, Amex will pay $20 million to resolve all Class Members' legal claims against Amex for the Released Claims (as defined in the Amex Settlement Agreement), Discover will pay $12.2 million to resolve all Class Members' legal claims against Discover for the Released Claims (as defined in the Discover Settlement Agreement). Additionally, Visa will pay $119.7 million and Mastercard will pay $79.8 million to resolve all Class Members' legal claims against Visa and Mastercard for the Released Claims (as defined in the Visa/Mastercard Settlement Agreement).

The Settlement Agreements are available here.

There will be no payments to the Class at this time. Class Members will be notified later of an opportunity to file a Claim Form.

If you received a mailed or emailed Notice, the Defendants' records show that you are likely a member of the Class and may be entitled to participate in the Settlements. The Class for purposes of the Settlements are the same as the Class that was previously certified.

The Class is: Merchants who incurred one or more unreimbursed chargeback(s) between October 1, 2015, through and including September 30, 2017, pursuant to the Fraud Liability Shift for the assessment of Mastercard, Visa, Discover and/or Amex payment card chargebacks. Excluded from the Class are members of the judiciary and government entities or agencies.

Any Class Members who previously excluded themselves from this lawsuit by filing a request for exclusion consistent with the requirements set forth in the Order Granting Class Plaintiffs’ Unopposed Motion for Approval of Proposed Class Notice and Notice Plan dated June 3, 2022, are no longer included in the Class and will not be able to file a Claim Form in the future for the Settlements.

If you have questions as to whether or not you are a Class Member in these Settlements, you can get free help by calling or writing to the Plaintiffs' lawyers in this case at the phone number and address listed below in FAQ 11 or by calling or emailing the Claims Administrator at 1-855-662-0073 or info@FraudLiabilityShiftLitigation.com.

The deadlines to exclude yourself from this action or object to one or more of the Settlements have passed.

There will be no payments to the Class at this time. Class Members will be notified later of an opportunity to file a Claim Form.

You do not have to do anything to stay in the Class.

If you are a merchant that did not want to be a member of the Class, you must have sent a written “Request to Opt Out” to the Litigation Administrator so it was received no later than August 31, 2022.

If you opted out of the Class (by timely stating in writing that you did not want to be in the Class in this lawsuit), you gave up the right to participate in any recovery that may occur. However, you kept any rights you may currently have to sue the Defendants regarding the legal claims at issue in this lawsuit. You also will not be bound by the orders the Court issues and judgments the Court makes in this case.

By doing nothing, you chose to stay in the Class. If you are a Class Member and the Class obtains money or benefits, you will be notified about how to apply for a share. You will not be able to sue or continue to sue the Defendants as part of any other lawsuit for any claims based on the facts and conduct raised by this lawsuit. You will also be legally bound by all of the orders the Court issues and judgments the Court makes in this lawsuit.

Yes. The Court has appointed lawyers to represent you and other Class Members. These lawyers are called Class Counsel. The Court has approved and appointed George C. Aguilar and Michael J. Nicoud and the law firm of Robbins LLP as Class Counsel. These lawyers are also assisted by John Devine of Devine Goodman & Rasco LLP and by Thomas G. Amon of the Law Offices of Thomas G. Amon.

If you have questions about the lawsuit, you may contact Class Counsel using the following information:
George C. Aguilar
Michael J. Nicoud
Robbins LLP
5060 Shoreham Place, Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92122
1-619-525-3990 (Office)

Class Counsel applied to the Court for an award of attorneys' fees, for the reimbursement of expenses for litigating the case, and for service awards for the Class Representatives. This application was approved by the Court on April 28, 2026, you can review a copy of the order approving these fees here.

You do not need to hire your own lawyer because Class Counsel is working for you. You are welcome to hire your own lawyer at your expense. If you hire a lawyer to speak for you or to appear in Court, your lawyer must file a Notice of Appearance.

The deadline to object to the Settlements was January 26, 2026.

The Court held a Fairness Hearing on April 27, 2026, at 2:15 p.m. before the Honorable Brian M. Cogan, Courtroom 10A South at the U.S. District Court, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, NY 11201. At this hearing, the Court considered whether the Discover, Amex, and Visa/Mastercard Settlements are fair, reasonable, and adequate and decided to approve the Settlements, along with Class Counsel's request for attorneys' fees and expenses, and service awards.

As no objections were filed, none were considered by the Court.

The Court provided final approval of these Settlements and provided an order granting Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees, expenses, and service awards on April 28, 2026.

Please note: There will be no payments to the Class at this time. Class Members will be notified later of an opportunity to file a Claim Form.

This website and the Notice are only a summary of this litigation. For additional information, you may review case-specific court documents on the Documents page, or you may call the Claims Administrator toll-free at 1-855-662-0073.

Please do not contact the Court. The Court cannot answer any questions or discuss the case.