MasterCard California Currency Conversion Case Reversed on Appeal

MasterCard International is pleased that a California appellate court today dismissed a challenge to MasterCard’s method for currency conversion because the plaintiff lacks standing to pursue the action under Proposition 64.

“Adam Schwartz, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, never made a purchase in a foreign currency with any credit card. In fact, he even never held a MasterCard card, and therefore could not possibly have been injured by MasterCard’s currency conversion methodology,” said Noah J. Hanft, MasterCard general counsel. “Proposition 64 was approved last year by California voters to stop abuse by trial lawyers who would simply seek out random individuals and use them to bring actions supposedly on behalf of the general public.”

Last November, California voters passed Proposition 64 to alter the California Business and Professions Code, so that if a plaintiff brings an action under the Code, the plaintiff must, among other things, show injury and cannot simply represent the general public of California. Moreover, by this ruling, the court has stated that Proposition 64 should apply to pending legal actions.

In its ruling the appellate court said Proposition 64 applies to this pending action and “compels us to reverse the judgment.” The case will be returned to the trial court to determine whether further proceedings are appropriate.