Visa and Mastercard are each being sued by hundreds of claimants at London's Competition Appeal Tribunal, which is currently managing the various cases together. Special purpose vehicle Commercial and Interregional Card Claims (CICC) brought another set of lawsuits against Visa and Mastercard last year, seeking damages on behalf of merchants which were allegedly overcharged. CICC is asking the tribunal to certify its cases under the United Kingdom's collective proceedings regime, which is roughly equivalent to the class action regime in the United States. But Visa and Mastercard's lawyers say the need for collective proceedings is undermined by the fact that thousands of merchants have already sued them. "These proposed collective proceedings are not, therefore, about providing access to justice to those who cannot seek it for themselves," he added.

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