January 21 2008McCulley McCluer Appointed to Plaintiffs' Executive Committee in Antitrust Class Action on Behalf of Independent Truck Stop Owners
On January 21, 2008, Judge James Knoll Gardner of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania appointed McCulley McCluer PLLC to an Executive Committee of plaintiffs’ counsel representing a proposed nationwide class of independent truck stop owners. In this federal antitrust lawsuit, independent truck stop owners are challenging a variety of illegal conduct allegedly engaged in by Comdata Corporation, owner of the monopoly credit card system used by practically every truck stop in the United States. The lawsuit charges that Comdata has harmed competition by using its market dominance to impair the ability of rival card issuers to challenge Comdata’s monopoly.
Comdata is based in Brentwood, Tennessee and is a subsidiary of Minneapolis-based Ceridian Corporation. The suit alleges that in the mid-1990s Comdata acquired its chief truck stop card rival (NTS) and the monopoly point of sale system (Trendar). After becoming a monopolist in the truck stop card and point of sale system markets, Comdata changed its pricing system and significantly increased card fees paid by independent truck stops relative to fees charged to the chain truck stops. Chain truck stops (such as Pilot, Petro and Travel Centers of America) typically pay about 50 cents a transaction. Independent truck stops pay a percentage of the value of the transactions, typically over 2%. Given that the vast majority of affected transactions, which usually involve truckers buying large quantities of diesel fuel, are far in excess of $25, the card fee independents pay is almost always significantly greater than the 50 cent fee chain truck stops pay. The difference in charges costs independent truck stops millions of dollars annually, impedes competition by independent truck stops and ultimately leads to all consumers paying more.
The law suit seeks treble damages for the overcharges to the plaintiffs and the proposed class of independent truck stops, and an injunction to prevent the ongoing anticompetitive conduct.
In addition to McCulley McCluer, the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee consists of the following firms: Berger & Montague, P.C.; Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein LLP; Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart, Oliver & Hedges LLP; The Law Offices of David Balto; and The Law Offices of Joshua P. Davis.