CRA assisted counsel for Discover Financial Services in a lawsuit seeking damages from Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. Discover filed its damages suit against Visa and MasterCard in October 2004, following the conclusion of a Department of Justice lawsuit that determined Visa and MasterCard violated antitrust laws by barring banks from issuing cards on the Discover Network. CRA’s team analyzed the anti-competitive effects of Visa and MasterCard rules and computed damages. CRA undertook economic analyses of market definition, market power, and the impacts of Visa’s and MasterCard’s rules on competition in the provision of credit and debit card network services. Our analysis contributed to determining the $2.75 billion settlement amount with Visa and MasterCard – reported to be the third largest antitrust settlement in US history.
New research on the use of conjoint surveys with market simulation analysis for damages estimation in consumer protection class action litigation
Market simulations that we have seen used in consumer protection class action litigation apply what is known as the static Nash Bertrand model of competition...