Visa Not Obliged to Issue Card for Sears Unit

A federal judge has refused to order Visa U.S.A. to let Dean Witter Financial Services start issuing its Prime Option Visa card.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson comes as he considers Visa’s request for a new trial in a lawsuit it lost against Dean Witter and its parent company, Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Despite the judge’s ruling, which was issued last week, Dean Witter spokeswoman Beth Metzler said Monday that the company still plans to push forward with its new Prime Option credit card.

“We are disappointed, particularly when a jury unanimously decided that exclusion of our card from the market substantially harms competition and the consumer,” Metzler said.

In the suit, Sears alleged that Visa broke federal antitrust laws when it refused to let it issue a Visa-branded credit card called Prime Option. Sears planned to issue the card through a thrift it owns, MountainWest Financial of Sandy, Utah, near Salt Lake City.

Visa says it blocked the Prime Option card because Sears, which issues the Discover card, is a direct competitor.

A federal jury in November ruled in favor of Sears, and the company had planned to put 18 million applications for Prime Option cards in the mail in February.

A Visa spokesman said the company is more hopeful of reversing the verdict after Benson’s ruling.