Perhaps not surprisingly, MasterCard has dismissed Paycom Billing Service's antitrust lawsuit against the credit giant as a bid to duck compliance.
"It is nothing more than a brazen attempt to avoid complying with MasterCard rules that are designed to protect consumers, merchants, and MasterCard's member financial institutions," MasterCard said in a short statement.
Paycom, whose clientele includes adult entertainment, has sued MasterCard in federal court, alleging MasterCard has tried collecting millions in fines over excessive chargebacks Paycom says didn't happen. Paycom says some months chargebacks went over a 1 percent of ongoing sales threshold and some months not.
"We are in compliance with MasterCard's rules as a merchant, yet they fine us millions of dollars," said Paycom chief executive officer Christopher Mallick in a statement after the lawsuit was filed . "Paycom has been directed to change its entire business structure, indeed to change the way in which e-commerce works, to comply with additional rules from MasterCard; rules that MasterCard cannot or will not articulate or explain."
Paycom's suit also accuses MasterCard of violating federal and state antitrust laws plus denial of fair procedure, unfair competition, fraud, breach of contract, and breach of implied covenants, not to mention "intentional interference" in Paycom contract relationships and "intentional and negligent interference" with the company's business growth potential.
"MasterCard's continued unfair dealings and the imposition of baseless fines, penalties and fees on Internet merchants, such as Paycom, simply prove the abusive control that one finds in a monopoly," said a Paycom attorney, Richard P. Crane, Jr., after filing the suit with fellow former federal prosecutor William McD. Miller. Charles Farrar
