A court appointed expert said that merchants will be better off with a multibillion-dollar price-fixing settlement with Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. over swipe fees than they would be if they went to trial, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Prof. Alan O. Sykes of New York University Law found that U.S. merchants face “a substantial probability of failure” if they proceed with the case, according to a memorandum filed yesterday in Brooklyn, New York federal court. Sykes, who was asked by U.S. District Judge John Gleeson to weigh in on the pact, also found some concerns with legal releases and the possible impact of certain rule changes promised in the deal. “The expected returns to continued litigation are highly uncertain,” Sykes said in the memorandum. “Plaintiffs face a substantial probability of securing little or no relief at the conclusion of trial.”
