BELLEVILLE – Attorney David Cates of Swansea and lawyers of other states propose a class action on a claim that FCB Banks collects improper fees.
Cates filed suit for Illinois resident Anthony McGowan on Dec. 28 in St. Clair County Circuit Court, as local counsel with attorneys Lynn Toops of Indianapolis, Gerard Stranch of Nashville, and Christopher Jennings of Little Rock.
The suit claims the banks charge multiple fees on an item, or a fee on an item followed by an overdraft.
Each time a bank reprocessed an item after initial rejection, the bank allegedly treated it as a new and unique item subject to another fee, according to the lawsuit.
The suit claims that McGowan’s contract didn’t state that this "counter intuitive and deceptive result" could be possible and promised the opposite.
On Aug. 15, 2019, the suit claims, McGowan attempted to pay $16.90 for an item.
His bank allegedly rejected payment of the item and charged a $30 fee.
“Unbeknownst to plaintiff and without plaintiff’s request to defendant to reprocess the item, on or around Aug. 22, 2019, defendant rejected the same item yet again and charged plaintiff a second $30 fee for doing so,” the suit claims.
“This also occurred on Aug. 15, 2019, and Aug. 22, 2019, with respect to a $38.70 item assessed $60 in fees.
“Plaintiff understood the payment to be a single item as is laid out in the contract, capable of receiving at most a single fee if defendant returned it or a single fee if defendant paid it.
“Defendant understood this too as it labels the re-presentment of a previously rejected item as a ‘retry pymt,’ meaning the re-presentment is merely a retry of the same previously rejected payment.
“The improper fees charged by defendant were not errors but rather intentional charges made by defendant as part of its standard processing of items.
“Plaintiff therefore had no duty to report the fees as errors.”
The proposed class action consists of thousands, the complaint states.
“Subterfuge and evasion violate the obligation of good faith in performance even when an actor believes their conduct to be justified,” it states.
“A lack of good faith may be overt or may consist of inaction, and fair dealing may require more than honesty.”
The suit claims the bank group has about $2 billion in assets and provides services through 19 locations in Illinois and Missouri.
It claims that U.S. banks generated $30 billion from overdraft fees in 2018.
FCB Banks has its principal place of business in Collinsville, with 19 locations in Illinois and Missouri.
In January, Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson assigned Circuit Judge William Stiehl.
The summons on the banks returned in February, and Kurt Reitz of St. Louis entered an appearance for them on Feb. 22.
Stiehl set a conference March 28.