Card companies get protection from lawsuits as per supreme court ruling

In separate rulings on Monday, while the Supreme Court has given employees a certain amount of leeway with regard to the cases filed against their employers, Credit Card companies have also been offered protection from lawsuits that are based on hikes in interest rates.

The famous credit card case (Chase Bank v. McCoy) was in the news due to the outdated fed rules with regard to the rate hikes, and if it was necessary for companies to inform the cardholders about rate hikes which are on account of default or delinquency.

As per the Federal Regulations in 2009, companies were required to provide a 45-day notice in case of rate increases, in the event of default or if it is as a result of delinquency.However, these rules were unclear when James McCoy filed the suit in 2006.

It was alleged by McCoy in the lawsuit that Chase Bank illegally raised the rates without giving him a notification after he had defaulted on the payments.

At that time Mr. McCoy’s case was quashed and the ruling by the Supreme Court went against him when the 20-page decision stated that as per the terms & conditions the rate increase that was applicable in case of default was well within the requirements of the law.

The court had ruled that Mr. McCoy’s lawsuit was baseless since Justice Sonia Sotomayor had written to the court with regard to her opinion about federal regulations; she stated that Chase did not have to provide Mr. McCoy any information regarding the change in terms and conditions before implementing, as the agreement clearly states that the increase in rates would be implemented in case of default or delinquency.

However, after a change in regulations in 2009, there has been some amount of clarity and the changes have taken effect now.But a victory for Mr. McCoy at that stage could have led to a series of other lawsuits from other customers who were in a similar position as Mr. McCoy.

In yet another ruling, the High Court has ruled that Eric Thompson could sue the North American Stainless, as the company had unjustly fired him as a retaliatory response to the sex-discrimination case that was filed by his fiancée, who worked in the same company.

Mr. Thompson had a right to file this suit according to the Civil Right Act.

Bryant Park

Bryant Park is a financial consultant for one of the companies listed on Wall Street. He writes on a variety of topics ranging from credit cards to different loans that can be availed by consumers. He holds a bachelor degree in Financial Services from Dartmouth College.