Visa Loses Antitrust Appeal Against Pulse in Network Fee Case

Visa Inc. must face renewed antitrust litigation over allegations that it structures its network fees for merchants to drive smaller payment processing companies out of the market, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled Tuesday, reviving a case brought by Pulse Network LLC.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reinstated most of the lawsuit, which takes aim at changes Visa made after the Dodd-Frank Act banned payment processors from requiring certain transactions using their debit cards to be routed through their networks.

The appeals court reversed a summary judgment ruling by Judge Lynn N. Hughes, who ...