VISA International Service Association v. BankIslami Pakistan Limited

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

VISA INTERNATIONAL SERVICE Case No. 20-cv-01786-VC

ASSOCIATION,

Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING MOTION TO

DISMISS OR STAY

v. Re: Dkt. No. 19

BANKISLAMI PAKISTAN LIMITED,

Defendant.

On a Saturday in October 2018, a group of unknown people launched a coordinated “cashout attack” using counterfeit BankIslami debit cards to simultaneously withdraw cash from ATMs around the world in the Visa network. Visa, stepping into the void, paid the banks whose ATMs were involved and then initiated the process of debiting BankIslami for the losses. Meanwhile, the next business day, BankIslami instituted an action in Pakistan—specifically, in the High Court of Sindh—seeking an emergency injunction against transfer of funds to Visa and a declaration that BankIslami is not liable to Visa for the losses associated with the cashout attack. The High Court of Sindh issued the ex parte injunction, and although the injunction’s terms arguably would not apply, the disputed funds have not been transferred to Visa from a JP Morgan Chase account in New York. In March 2020, Visa filed this breach-of-contract action against…