Another day, another lawsuit. A US judge has granted class action certification to a lawsuit by US credit unions and banks over the fees Apple charges for transactions processed through Apple Pay.
Federal Judge Jeffrey White has told the financial institutions that it can oursue its claims against Apple as a class action suit. The firms say Apple blocks competing tap-to-pay wallets on the iPhone while charging them fees for Apple Pay transactions.
The judge certified the class on September 23, while also shutting down Apple’s attempt to exclude the plaintiffs’ damages expert. The expert, Christopher Vellturo, will be allowed to testify. He has compared Apple’s issuer fees to the zero-dollar issuer fees of competing mobile wallets, using the difference to determine the amount the class members say they have overpaid and are owed.
Card issuers pay Apple Apple 0.15% of the amount of credit card purchases and one half cent for each debit transaction.
The original lawsuit was filed in 2022 by Affinity Credit Union, GreenState Credit Union, and Consumers Co-op Credit Union. The trio argued that Apple couldn’t have charge such inflated fees if there was any true competition. Numerous Android wallets don’t charge such transaction fees to card issuers.
The lawsuit claims that Apple blocks rival wallets from accessing the iPhone’s contactless payment abilities, making Apple Pay the only method of making tap-to-pay payments.
The lawsuit asks for repayment of those fees, as well as changes to the payment practices they are challenging.
As noted by AppleInsider, the newly-certified class allows any US financial firm that issued an Apple Pay-enabled card and that paid Apple its processing fees join in on the lawsuit. Thousands of US banks and credit unions could qualify to join the class actions suit.
Judge White ruled that the court can resolve key questions for the entire suing class rather than separately for every issuer.
The judge will decide whether Apple held monopoly power, harmed the competition, and if it injured card issuers with the fees it charged.
