NEW YORK CITY -- Constantine Cannon, lead counsel for U.S. merchants in the Visa Check/MasterMoney antitrust litigation case, issued another advisory reminding class members that March 31, 2006, is the deadline to submit consolidation requests.

The law firm notes that all U.S. class members have been given additional time to submit claim forms, challenge estimated cash payment amount or submit a request to consolidate multiple claim forms. Most merchants had until December 28, 2005, to choose one of the three aforementioned actions to "preserve their right to receive payment from the settlement fund." The "Amended Plan of Allocation" approved by the court gave lead counsel the discretion to accept or reject late claims.

"As noted in our February 1 advisory, because consolidations require extensive additional work to complete and delay the process of making payments to all Class Members, the last date that all Class Members may submit requests to consolidate their multiple forms will be March 31, 2006," notes Constantine Cannon.

For additional information about the claims and consolidation process, merchants should contact the Garden City Group at (888) 641-4437 or click here to visit the case Web site.

NACS members can also contact Teri Richman with NACS at (703) 684-3600, or e-mail trichman@nacsonline.com.