Supreme Court of California

Court of Appeals judgment in favor of defendant is affirmed where: 1) defendant's practice of recouping overdrafts and charging insufficient funds fees to class members does not run afoul of the holding in Kruger as the setoff of independent debt at issue in Kruger is not implicated; and 2) defendant's practice of recouping overdrafts and charging insufficient funds fees is permissible in light of the statement in Financial Code sec. 864 that overdrafts and bank charges are not debts and therefore not subject to the limitations placed on a bank's right of setoff set forth in the statute.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/01/2009
• Published 06/01/2009

Judges

• MORENO, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• The Sturdevant Law Firm, James C. Sturdevant, Mark T. Johnson, Monique Olivier, San Francisco;  Law Offices of Thomas J. Brandi, Thomas J. Brandi and Brian J. Malloy, San Francisco, for Plaintiffs and Appellants., Barbara Jones, Rochelle Bobroff, Michael Schuster;  Deanne Loonin, Lauren Saunders, Los Angeles, Margot Saunders;  Gerald McIntyre, Los Angeles;  and Richard Rothschild, Los Angeles, for AARP Foundation Litigation, National Consumer Law Center, National Senior Citizens Law Center, Congress of California Seniors and Western Center on Law and Poverty as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants., Eric Halperin, Kathleen Keest, Amanda Quester, Melissa Briggs and Daniel Mosteller, Walnut Creek, for Center for Responsible Lending as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants., Bramson, Plutzik, Mahler & Birkhaeuser and Robert M. Bramson, Walnut Creek, for National Association of Consumer Advocates as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants., Levy, Ram & Olson and Arthur D. Levy, San Francisco, for The California Reinvestment Coalition as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants., Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General (Iowa);  Fazio Micheletti and Jeffrey L. Fazio, San Ramon, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants., Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Richard M. Frank, Chief Deputy, Legal Affairs, Tom Greene, Chief Assistant Attorney General, and Herschel T. Elkins, Special Assistant Attorney General, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Marc A. Lackner;  O'Melveny & Myers, Walter Dellinger, Debra S. Belaga, Jonathan D. Hacker, Matthew D. Roberts;  Morrison & Foerster, Arne D. Wagner, Arturo J. Gonzalez and Heather A. Moser, San Francisco, for Defendant and Appellant., Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, Jonathan R. Bass and Susan K. Jamison, San Francisco, for California Bankers Association and California Credit Union League as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant., Arnold & Porter, Laurence J. Hutt, Los Angeles, Howard N. Cayne and Nancy L. Perkins for American Bankers Association, America's Community Bankers, Consumer Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Financial Services Roundtable and Independent Community Bankers of America as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant., Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Jeffrey S. Bucholtz and Michael F. Hertz, Acting Assistant Attorneys General, Kevin V. Ryan, Scott N. Schools and Joseph P. Russoniello, United States Attorneys, William Kanter, Howard S. Scher and Thomas M. Bondy for The United States of America as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant.