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LONDON (Reuters) - Some 46 million people in Britain could potentially benefit from a legal case brought against Mastercard (MA.N) demanding 14 billion pounds ($19 billion) in damages for allegedly charging excessive fees, according to court documents filed in London. 
  
 The case brought by a former chief financial services ombudsman alleges the payments company charged unlawfully high fees to stores when shoppers swiped their debit or credit cards and these were passed on to consumers in higher prices. 
  
 Mastercard is alleged to have done this for 16 years between 1992 and 2008, in more than 600 pages of documents filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Thursday.”This was almost an invisible tax,” Walter Merricks, who is bringing the case, told the BBC. “Mastercard has behaved disgracefully in this. They have not had the reasonableness to accept that what this was doing was damaging UK consumers.” 
  
 Shoppers carry bags in London, Britain August 25, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall 
  
 Mastercard said in a statement it denied any wrongdoing.”We continue to firmly disagree with the basis of this claim and we intend to oppose it vigorously,” the world’s second-largest payments network said. 
  
 The lawsuit comes after the European Union’s antitrust regulator found in 2014 Mastercard’s fees to store owners to process international payments within the EU were excessive.Law firm Quinn Emanuel said the lawsuit was the largest damages claim in British history and would be brought under a law meaning consumers would automatically be claimants unless they opt out. Any person living in Britain who used a credit card, cash or checks and was over 16 years old in the period covered by the lawsuit will automatically be part of the claim.If the 14 billion pound claim was shared equally between the number of eligible claimants, each person could receive more than 300 pounds each, according to a Reuters’ calculation.A lawyer working on the case said Mastercard charged shops fees in excess of 1 percent for card use on international transactions between 1992 and 2008.Although the EU’s anti-trust regulator only ruled Mastercard’s international fees were illegal, this impacted British consumers as it was the default fee used in Britain. 
  
 Two years ago, the European Union capped the fees retailers pay at 0.2 percent for debit cards and 0.3 percent for credit cards. Merricks in a statement said the case is a watershed moment for consumer compensation in Britain.Merricks was head of Britain’s financial services ombudsmen for ten years until 2009, helping to settle disputes between consumers and financial services companies. Britain’s banks have been caught in a range of mis-selling cases in the last five years. They have paid 24 billion pounds in compensation for mis-selling loan payment insurance, making it Britain’s costliest scandal in financial services.Consumers no longer living in Britain, but who lived in the country between 1992 and 2008, can opt in to the collective claim against Mastercard.Any hearing on the case is not expected until early 2018, unless MasterCard settle it out of court. 
  
 ($1 = 0.7523 pounds) ||||| MasterCard is facing a gargantuan lawsuit over claims it ripped off U.K. consumers by charging illegally high fees on store transactions for well over a decade. 
  
 The class action lawsuit -- one of the first ever launched in the U.K. -- was filed Thursday. It claims MasterCard (MA) should pay 14 billion pounds ($18.6 billion) to millions of British people for imposing unlawful card charges between 1992 and 2008. 
  
 "Consumers were unaware of the level of these fees or that they were illegal," law firm Quinn Emanuel said in a written statement. "All U.K. consumers ... not just MasterCard holders -- have lost money as a result." 
  
 The law firm argues MasterCard's excessive fees forced retailers to hike prices across the board, and every shopper lost out as a result. It estimates 46 million people were affected. 
  
 Related: How a U.S. tipoff led to Apple's $14 billion EU tax bill 
  
 Quinn Emanuel is acting on behalf of Walter Merricks, a lawyer and former head of the Financial Ombudsman Service, an authority that tries to resolve complaints against financial services firms. 
  
 MasterCard said in a statement that it would "take time to review [the claim] in detail, however, we continue to firmly disagree with the basis of this claim and we intend to oppose it vigorously." 
  
 It may be 2018 before the case goes to trial, but the two sides could settle before then. 
  
 The lawsuit builds on decades of investigations and rulings by the European Commission on the fees charged by MasterCard in the European Union. ||||| In this photo illustration a detail of a Mastercard credit card showing the logo of the card in London, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. Britain's former financial services watchdog is suing MasterCard for 14 billion... (Associated Press) 
  
 In this photo illustration a detail of a Mastercard credit card showing the logo of the card in London, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. Britain's former financial services watchdog is suing MasterCard for 14 billion... (Associated Press) 
  
 LONDON (AP) — MasterCard is being sued for 14 billion pounds ($18.6 billion) on behalf of British consumers for allegedly charging excessive fees on millions of transactions over a 16-year period. 
  
 The suit, which is the latest in a string of legal cases around the world over card companies' fees, could bring a payout to 46 million British MasterCard users, the law firm filing it says. The firm, Quinn Emanuel, says the claim is the largest in British legal history. 
  
 The suit alleges that MasterCard charged stores unlawfully high fees on credit and debit card transactions between 1992 and 2008, which were passed on to consumers in the form of inflated prices for goods and services. 
  
 "The filing of this claim is the first step towards consumers obtaining compensation for what MasterCard did," said Walter Merricks, a former U.K. financial services ombudsman who filed the suit through Quinn Emanuel on Thursday at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. 
  
 Merricks callied it "a watershed moment for consumer redress in this country." 
  
 MasterCard and its larger competitor Visa have been embroiled in legal battles with merchants over their fees for decades. A $6 billion class-action lawsuit in the U.S., which involves merchants suing Visa and MasterCard, is currently being appealed in U.S. courts. There's also a legal battle between Visa and retail giant Wal-Mart, which involves what are known as "chip and sign" transactions. 
  
 Merchants have long argued that the fees that Visa, MasterCard and to a lesser degree American Express and Discover, charge to process transactions are too high. Because Visa and MasterCard have a near duopoly on credit card transaction processing in most of the world, merchants say the fees represent anticompetitive behavior. 
  
 The British lawsuit follows a 2014 ruling by the European Union's highest court backing the EU's move to scrap some fees that MasterCard allows banks to charge to merchants. 
  
 Under Britain's new Consumer Rights Act, all U.K. consumers who paid the charges and currently live in Britain will automatically become part of the group of claimants — and eligible for compensation — unless they explicitly opt out. 
  
 MasterCard Inc., based in Purchase, New York, said in a statement that "we continue to firmly disagree with the basis of this claim and we intend to oppose it vigorously." 
  
 The tribunal will rule late this year whether the case can proceed, the law firm said. If so, it is expected to go to court in 2018. 
  
 ___ 
  
 Sweet reported from New York. |||||
Output:
Approximately 46 million people in Britain could one day be $400 richer thanks to a massive $18.6 billion lawsuit filed Thursday against MasterCard, CNN reports. It's one of Britain's first class action lawsuits. Walter Merricks, the former head of Britain's Financial Ombudsman Service who filed the lawsuit, alleges MasterCard was charging stores too-high fees when customers used their credit cards between 1992 and 2008. According to Reuters, the lawsuit claims the stores would then pass those fees on to customers—and not just MasterCard users—in the form of higher prices. Merricks calls it "almost an invisible tax" and says MasterCard "behaved disgracefully." The lawsuit alleges MasterCard charged stores transaction fees of more than 1%. In comparison, the EU recently capped fees at 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards. The lawsuit is seeking damages for anyone who bought anything at a store during that 16-year period, no matter how they paid. And those estimated 46 million people will all be claimants in the lawsuit unless they specifically opt out. That works out to about $400 a person. MasterCard denies it did anything wrong and plans to fight the lawsuit. The AP reports there's currently a similar lawsuit seeking $6 billion from MasterCard and Visa working its way through the appeals process in the US.