Websites critical of a settlement that Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. reached with retailers over swipe fees are misleading and must be corrected, a federal judge ruled, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The sites contain "bad information" that may have caused some retailers to drop out of the settlement, U.S. District Judge John Gleeson said yesterday. He gave the parties a week to decide on changes. Sites at issue include Merchantsobject.com and home sites for the trade groups National Community Pharmacists Association, National Grocers Association and the National Association of Convenience Stores, among others, according to court filings submitted by the plaintiffs’ lawyers. The sites provide one-sided information encouraging retailers to object and opt out and don’t fully explain consequences of those actions, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said. While opting out allows merchants to pursue their own lawsuits against the credit card firms, it deprives them of the ability to receive payments for damages under the settlement, the lawyers said.
