Pereira v. Regions Bank: Suit Against Bank for Charging Check-Cashing Fee Dismissed Because of Federal Preemption

Pereira v. Regions Bank, No. 13-10458, from MDFla

Per curiam opinion joined by Circuit Judge Tjoflat, Senior Circuit Judge Fay, and Senior Circuit Judge Alarcon (9th Cir.)

Summary: Florida law provides that a financial institution may not settle any check drawn on it otherwise than at par.  The plaintiffs claimed that a fee charged by a bank for cashing their checks caused them to receive less than par value, because they received less than the full amount of their checks.  The district court granted the defendant bank’s motion to dismiss because of federal preemption.

The Eleventh Circuit previously held in Baptista v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 640 F.3d 1194 (11th Cir. 2011), that regulations promulgated under the National Bank Act by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency preempted the Florida statute with respect to national banks.  In this appeal, the panel considered whether the same law was also preempted with respect to out-of-state state banks. 

Federal law, 12 U.S.C. § 1831a(j), provides that the laws of a host state apply to any branch in the host state of an out-of-state state bank to the  same extent as such state laws apply to a branch in the host state of an out-of-state national bank.  The panel assumed for purposes of argument that the Florida statute would prohibit out-of-state state banks from charging a fee to cash a check, and held that, since federal law preempted such a result with respect to national banks, it was also preempted with respect to out-of-state state banks.
 

The panel also noted that, although it was unnecessary to resolve the issue, legislative history supported this reading of the law.

The panel accordingly affirmed the district court’s order of dismissal in a brief seven-page order.