Second Circuit Refuses To Stay Injunction During American Express Appeal

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected American Express Co.'s request to stay an injunction ordered by a judge in the Eastern District of New York which prevented Amex from imposing certain anti-steering rules on merchants. U.S. et al. v. American Express Co., et al., Case No. 15-1672. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice brought suit against Amex alleging that the anti-steering rules were anticompetitive, and, after a seven week trial held during the summer of 2014, District Judge Nicholas Garaufis agreed. Case No. 1:10-cv-04496. In February 2015, using a rule-of-reason analysis, Judge Garaufis, determined that the policies caused an adverse effect on competition and, thus, violated the Sherman Act. On April 30, 2015, he entered an injunction to "allow[] Merchants to attempt to influence the [credit card] that a Customer uses." Therefore, the injunction prohibited Amex from adopting or enforcing any rule that prevented merchants from