Florida Federal Court Holds NBA Preempts State Law Barring Check Cashing Fees

On June 4, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida held that the National Bank Act (NBA) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) regulations preempt a Florida law prohibiting check cashing fees. Baptista v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, No. 6:10-cv-139, 2010 WL 2342436 (M.D. Fla. June 4, 2010). In this putative class action, the defendant bank charged the plaintiff a fee for cashing a check at the bank because she was a non-account holder. The plaintiff sued, claiming unjust enrichment and arguing that Fla. Stat. § 655.85 forbids banks from cashing checks at less than par value. The court granted the bank’s motion to dismiss, finding that § 655.85 only forbids check-cashing fees on bank-to-bank transactions, and, thus, does not apply to the plaintiff. The court additionally held that the NBA and OCC regulations would preempt the statute’s prohibition on check cashing fees even if § 655.85 applied to the plaintiff. The court reasoned that the Florida check cashing fee statute conflicts with OCC regulations that (i) authorize national banks to charge their customers non-interest charges and fees, and (ii) provide that the establishment and amounts of non-interest charges and fees are business decisions made at their discretion. Ruling on whether the non-account holder was a “customer” under the relevant OCC regulations, the court added that OCC interpretive letters define “customer” as any party that obtains a product or service from the bank; thus, the plaintiff was a “customer” because she received check cashing services, even if she was a non-account holder. The court also dismissed the plaintiff’s claim for unjust enrichment, finding that the claim sought damages from the bank for exercising federally-authorized powers, and, thus, was preempted.