STRATEGIC PARTNERS
March 5, 2002
SAN FRANCISCO -- U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker told the Santa Monica City Council that it must comply with his June order that it suspend an ordinance prohibiting banks from charging convenience fees at ATMs, according to the Associated Press.
Bank of America and Wells Fargo have not yet opened their ATMs to non-customers despite Walker's order nullifying Santa Monica's ordinance banning the fees. Instead, the banks have prohibited customers who do not bank with them from using their machines.
Following Walker's ruling, Santa Monica passed a resolution suspending the anit-surcharge ordinance last month. But the banks said the council had to pass an ordinance, not a resolution, for the fee ban to become legally abolished. Without such passage, the banks said, they could become subject to private, class-action suits that could cost them millions, the banks' attorneys said.
Walker agreed, and gave the council until Nov. 2 to pass an ordinance.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to review Walker's order that suspended the ordinance in a case widely watched by the banking industry. Walker said the National Banking Act gives the federal government, not states and local governments, the authority to mandate banking laws.
