Nine years ago, the $5.7 billion sticker price to settle one of the biggest class-action lawsuits ever was rejected. Last year, it climbed to $30 billion, just to be thrown out again. Now, it’s north of $200 billion, and there’s growing doubt even that will be enough to end two decades of fighting.

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. this month took yet another swing at a deal that seeks to end a battle with thousands of retailers — and reshape the fees underpinning the credit-card industry in the process. Yet opposition is already pouring in from merchants and lawmakers.

Making the call will be U.S. District Court Judge Brian Cogan, who took over the long-running case after Judge Margo Brodie last year struck down the earlier settlement, saying that finance firms could afford to take a bigger hit.

At issue are the fees merchants must pay to accept credit cards from consumers, tiny individual amounts that add up to giant costs each year. Should the settlement survive, consumers will have to be on guard for retailers potentially denying premium cards.

“Merchants across the nation oppose this settlement and did not agree to it,” said Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, which opposes the fees on behalf of a group of retailers. “A similar bad deal was rejected by the courts just last year and merchants are looking to the court to reject this one too.”

Walmart Inc., the world’s largest retailer, indicated via a filing last week that it will likely take court action against the pact.

“Among other things, Chief Judge Brodie previously denied preliminary approval to an earlier settlement proposed by injunctive relief class counsel and Defendants, in large part for reasons outlined in Walmart’s opposition to that proposed settlement,” the big-box retailer said.

Walmart isn’t alone. Other big retailers, via their National Retail Federation trade group, said after the settlement was announced that the card industry “just doesn’t get it or just doesn’t care.” Another collection of merchant trade groups, including NRF, said in a filing last week that they first learned of the settlement when it was filed and are concerned the agreement may alter “the industry in harmful ways that cannot easily be undone.”

The National Restaurant Association also criticized the proposed settlement.

“Restaurants epitomize small business — they have the lowest profit margin of any business on Main Street and have the least amount of negotiating power when it comes to an entrenched duopoly,” said Sean Kennedy, the group’s executive vice president for public affairs.

Visa and Mastercard declined to comment on the latest opposition, but said at the time the latest settlement was announced that it would “provide meaningful relief” to retailers of all sizes along with “more flexibility and options to control how they accept payments from their customers.”

Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois and longtime critic of Visa and Mastercard, attacked the latest settlement, accusing the firms and the banks they work with of “lining their pockets” with fees while Americans struggle financially. Durbin successfully capped the amount the firms and the banks can charge to accept debit cards in a provision added to the Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“Reducing the cost of swipe fees and allowing merchants more choice in which cards they accept should be welcome news,” he said in a statement Monday. “However, I believe this settlement falls short.”

Cogan, a former civil litigator and partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, is now the latest federal judge to preside over the suit, first filed in 2005. He took over the case in early September.

One previous high-profile case Cogan presided over was the 2019 trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was convicted of leading the deadly Sinaloa drug cartel. Cogan later sentenced Guzman to life in prison. The judge also oversaw the 2022 trial of Tom Barrack, who was acquitted of charges that he tried to influence the campaign and presidential administration of his longtime friend Donald Trump as an agent of the United Arab Emirates. Barrack later praised the judge, jury and U.S. legal system.

Any hints from Cogan about whether he may accept the latest credit-card settlement are unlikely before the end of the year, with the deadline for objections set for Dec. 12.

Any grievances from large retailers could again thwart the settlement process, said Justin Teresi, antitrust litigation and policy analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

“Since this relief involves a mandatory class and there aren’t opt-out rights like in a monetary settlement, the court will likely be concerned with whether all merchants’ concerns are adequately addressed,” he said.

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