United States Second Circuit

In an appeal involving whether mandatory arbitration clauses found in credit card contracts issued by defendants, assuming they were products of illegal collusion among credit providers, give rise to Article III standing, dismissal of plaintiffs-cardholders' antitrust suit is vacated and remanded where: 1) the district court erroneously held that plaintiff-cardholders failed to allege an "injury in fact" sufficient to confer Article III standing; and 2) plaintiffs' claims were ripe for adjudication.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/25/2008
• Published 04/25/2008

Judges

• B.D. PARKER, Jr., Circuit Judge:, Before:  LEVAL, SOTOMAYOR, and B.D. PARKER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Merrill G. Davidoff, Berger & Montague, P.C., Philadelphia, PA (Ruthanne Gordon, Peter Nordberg, Charles Pearsall Goodwin, David A. Langer;  Bonny E. Sweeney, Joseph D. Daley, Christopher M. Burke, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, San Diego, CA;  Dennis Stewart, Hulett Harper Stewart, San Diego, CA, on the brief), Counsel of Record for Plaintiffs-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert D. Wick, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, DC (Charles E. Buffon, Virginia M. Rosado Desilets;  Peter E. Greene, Cyrus Amir-Mokri, Peter S. Julian, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York, NY, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Chase Bank USA, N.A., Paul W. Bartel, II, Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York, N.Y. (Arthur F. Golden, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees Discover Financial Services, LLC (sued under its former name, Discover Financial Services, Inc.), Discover Bank and Novus Credit Services Inc., Benjamin R. Nagin, Sidley Austin LLP, New York, N.Y. (David F. Graham, Robert N. Hochman, Eric H. Grush, Sidley Austin LLP, Chicago, IL;  John K. Van De Weert, Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees Citigroup Inc., Citibank (South Dakota), N.A., for itself and as successor-in-interest to Universal Bank, N.A. and Citibank USA, National Association;  Universal Financial Corp., and Citicorp Diners Club Inc., Mark P. Ladner, Morrison & Foerster LLP, New York, N.Y. (William R. Wade-Gery, Michael H. Gifford;  Christopher R. Lipsett, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, New York, NY;  Daniel Squire, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Washington, DC, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees Bank of America, N.A. (USA), MBNA America Bank, N.A., and MBNA America (Delaware), N.A., Andrew Frackman, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, New York, N.Y. (Edward D. Hassi, John Tully, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees Capital One Bank and Capital One, F.S.B., George A. Cumming, Jr., Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, San Francisco, CA (Kent M. Roger;  Harry T. Robins, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, New York, NY, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees HSBC Finance Corporation and HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A., Alexander Geiger, Geiger and Rothenberger, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Burt M. Rublin, Edward D. Rogers, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP, Philadelphia, PA, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees Providian Financial Corp. and Providian National Bank.