Federal Judge Skeptical of Visa’s Push to Toss US Antitrust Case

The federal judge overseeing the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against payments giant Visa Inc. expressed skepticism at the company’s effort to dismiss the case at the current early stage of the litigation.

At a hearing on Thursday in Manhattan federal court, US District Judge John Koeltl asked a lawyer for Visa several times why he should throw out the case now, when a number of factual disputes remain. “The issue of market definition and what companies should be included” are questions of fact that can’t be resolved on a motion to dismiss, Koeltl said.

How the market is defined, ...