American Express Company (AXP) yesterday, settled two class-action lawsuits by agreeing to change some of its credit and charge card policies. The settlement comes after extended litigation with merchants and retailers who claimed that Amex’s card practices had driven up their costs. Shares of American Express were up 0.3% in after hours, after closing at $86.4 yesterday during normal trading session.
According to the terms of the agreement, American Express has agreed to relax its previous rules that had limited merchants’ ability to add a surcharge to customers who used Amex cards. Amex also agreed to pay $75 million in litigation charges related to attorney fees in the two cases which began almost a decade ago. The plaintiff in one of the cases was Marcus Corp., a Milwaukee, WI-based hotel and theatre operator, which had sued American Express and called the company’s transaction fee policies exuberant and predatory.
