Judge Tentatively Dismisses B of A Case

A judge on Wednesday tentatively dismissed a price-fixing suit that accused Bank of America of conspiring with other banks to overcharge credit card customers by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The suit, which sought as much as $2 billion in damages, alleged a secret agreement among California’s largest banks in 1966 not to reduce credit card interest rates below Bank of America’s level, then 18%.

Two of the banks, Wells Fargo and First Interstate, agreed earlier this year to pay a total of $55 million in settlements, without admitting wrongdoing.

But Superior Court Judge William Cahill ruled that neither the many years of unchanged credit card rates, nor any other evidence offered in the six years since the suit was filed, could add up to proof that Bank of America had conspired to fix rates at artificial levels.