American Express Wins Antitrust Appeal of ‘Anti-Steering’ Rules

American Express Co. secured its win against antitrust litigation by merchants claiming its payment “anti-steering” rules led other credit cards to raise their rates, when a federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled Monday that the theory’s chain of causation has too many links.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a decision by Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, who dismissed the case in January 2020 from a federal court in Brooklyn, finding that merchants not accepting AmEx aren’t “efficient enforcers” of antitrust claims against it.

Judge Steven J. Menashi, writing for the appeals court, said the lawsuit’s theory—that ...