Visa and MasterCard have filed a law-suit against trade associations and retailers that have rejected a $7.2bn class action settlement.

Visa, MasterCard and several banks said in a complaint filed on Monday, 27 May, that their suit is "necessary to prevent the continuation of endless, wasteful litigation," according to Bloomberg,

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The class action settlement was agreed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn last July.

However, the deal has since been rejected by a group of major retailers and trade groups, who have counter-sued the card schemes in the hope of gaining heftier fines and deeper reforms to the credit card schemes.

By countering the law-suit, the card schemes are hoping to bar the trade groups and retailers from seeking antitrust damages for the fee practices.

Parties targeted by the suit include the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Grocers Association, the National Restaurant Association, Affiliated Foods Midwest Cooperative and D’Agostino Supermarkets Inc.

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A group of 19 large retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores, Costco and Starbucks chose last week to boycott the original settlement, which they claimed violated their legal rights by prohibiting legal action against the credit-card networks for alleged anticompetitive behavior in the future.

Following this move, a group of 17 retailers led by US retail-giant, Target, filed their own lawsuit on May 23, seeking damages for the swipe fees.

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