he battles pitting merchants against banks and the card Associations took another turn last month, with the news that Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC, the card acquiring unit of Wells Fargo & Co., agreed to settle a class action suit filed on behalf of California merchants.

When all is said and done, Wells could shell out up to $34 million in refunds to a class of some 96,000 credit and debit card-accepting merchants in California.

The case isn't about interchange, but about other fees Wells includes on monthly merchant statements. The merchants claim these fees weren't authorized or properly disclosed. They also claim Wells ignored repeated requests to explain the charges, which included items such as fees for manually entering card numbers when the terminal couldn't read the mag stripe. The settlement covers a four-year period, 1999 to 2003.

Howard M. Jaffe, an attorney for the merchants, described the settlement as a big win for merchants and for the class-action process. "This is a great example of how class actions can and should work to benefit class members, like the merchant customers of Wells Fargo involved in this case," Jaffe said in a statement.

Wells put a different spin on the matter. "We are confident that Wells Fargo has always made full disclosures to merchants about our billing practices," a spokesperson for the bank said in a statement. "The settlement allows us to focus on providing great service to our customers while meeting all of their credit card and debit card processing needs."

The payout, depending on how many merchants claim their share, will be at most a few hundred bucks apiece. The case has sparked interest and discussion on GS Online's MLS Forum, with varying opinions about motives and consequences. "The lawyers just go from industry to industry, wherever they can smell a buck. Now it's our turn," one Forum member wrote.

Another wrote, "Wells charged fees that even their customer service couldn't explain. I speak from experience as I had tried to talk to their customer service about certain fees, but nobody could explain."