Dive Brief:

• Two shareholder lawsuits against Fiserv should be combined and heard in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled. The investor complaint filed in Milwaukee was transferred to New York City last week.
• “The parties do not dispute that their complaints all arise from common facts: Fiserv’s and its executives’ representations to investors from 2024 to 2025 and the resulting impact on Fiserv’s stock value,” District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller ruled April 28 in Milwaukee. The Southern District of New York formally took the Wisconsin case on Wednesday.
• Amending the New York lawsuit with the Wisconsin plaintiffs’ claims — rather than separate actions — “is the optimal way to handle all of the plaintiffs’ assorted allegations against Fiserv and its executives,” Stadtmueller wrote.

Dive Insight:

In February, Stadtmueller consolidated two Wisconsin investor suits against Milwaukee-based Fiserv and said in his transfer order that the combination into the New York litigation won’t “unduly delay or prejudice” Wisconsin plaintiffs because none of the cases had yet moved to discovery.

Given the close relation of facts in each lawsuit, “avoiding duplication of efforts and inconsistent rulings” is a worthy goal, Stadtmueller wrote, agreeing with an argument the New York plaintiffs made in their motion to transfer the Wisconsin cases.

The New York plaintiffs filed their suit in July, alleging the payment processor misled investors by failing to disclose it had “forcibly migrated” merchants to its Clover point-of-sale product in late 2023 through the first half of 2024. 

Fiserv executives made misleading statements last year about Clover’s growth, prompting a major share price decline after the company revealed shortfalls in Clover payment volumes and overall company revenue growth, the lawsuit alleges. 

Fiserv did not respond to an email Monday seeking comment. The company has said previously that it disagrees with the shareholder lawsuits and will “vigorously defend” itself.

The lawsuit in New York is led by Ethenea Independent Investors SA of Luxembourg, an investment firm, and the City of Hollywood Police Officers’ Retirement System. Collectively, those plaintiffs lost about $7.6 million on their Fiserv investment, they said in court filings.

The New York lawsuit names former Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano as a defendant, along with CEO Mike Lyons; the Wisconsin litigation includes Lyons but not Bisignano.

Stadtmuller declined to rule on motions concerning lead plaintiff appointment in the Wisconsin cases, deferring to the New York judge for that issue given his decision to transfer the case.

The two Milwaukee lawsuits Stadtmueller consolidated were filed in November, less than two weeks apart, by Cypanga Sicav SIF, a Luxembourg-based investment fund and an individual investor, Sandra Lombard. Both sought class-action status.

The Wisconsin plaintiffs had urged the judge not to transfer their litigation into the New York action. “The Court is not persuaded by Cypanga and Lombard’s contention that simply because Fiserv is headquartered in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee community has a greater interest in resolving the claims in the consolidated action,” the judge wrote.