Court tosses antitrust claim over ATM fees

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals court has tossed out a lawsuit claiming that banks illegally conspired to fix the fees non-customers are charged to get cash from ATMs. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Thursday that consumers don't have standing to file the lawsuit since they don't directly pay the fees at issue. The lawsuit alleged banks colluded to set the so-called "interchange fees" that banks charge each other for foreign ATM transactions. The customers alleged in the lawsuit that banks artificially inflated the fee for using a foreign ATM when they passed along the charge to customers. A three-judge appeals court panel unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that tossed out the lawsuit filed against Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., and others. Lawyers for the customers didn't respond to phone queries. Published: Mon, Jul 16, 2012