Seven years ago, Berger & Montague launched an unusually complex antitrust case that was anything but a slam-dunk. This year, the investment paid off in a big way. The firm helped obtain a $7.25 billion preliminary settlement the largest monetary antitrust settlement on record as co-lead counsel on an antitrust class action against credit card giants Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. in July. It also triggered major reform of the transaction rules that govern the banks and merchants.
“We felt that this was a case where there was a definite need the merchants had been complaining about this system for a long, long time, and this was a good opportunity to do it,” said Berger & Montague president H. Laddie Montague Jr., who led the case with partners Merrill Davidoff, Bart Cohen and Michael Kane.
