A bank had a Consumer Deposit Account Agreement (the “agreement”) with each of its customers that outlined terms, late fees, returned deposit fees, an arbitration agreement, and more. A customer of the bank attempted to deposit two bad checks and was charged fees by the bank when the checks bounced. Using the language of the agreement, the customer argued that she should not have been fined, the bank had breached its covenant of good faith, unjustly enriched itself, and employed deceptive and unfair trade practices by charging returned deposit fees. In turn, the bank moved to enforce the arbitration clause found in the agreement, or, in the alternative, dismiss for failure to state a claim under which relief could be granted. The customer then argued that she had never received a copy of the agreement and had never agreed to it.
In McMurray v. Huntington National Bank, No. 2:24-cv-01481, 2025 WL 961701, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60587 (S.D. Ohio Mar. 31, 2025) (opinion not yet released for publication), the court granted the bank’s motion to compel arbitration and as such, did not need to consider the motion to dismiss. The court reasoned that if the arbitration agreement did apply, its analysis would end there. As such, the court had to determine if the three requirements to compel arbitration had been met: “(1) an enforceable written agreement to arbitrate; (2) a dispute within the scope of the arbitration agreement; and (3) a refusal to arbitrate.” A.D. v. Credit One Bank, N.A., 885 F.3d 1054, 1060 (7th Cir. 2018). The customer did not dispute elements two or three, so the court only had to determine whether the parties had entered into an agreement to arbitrate. The court found that the customer had, in fact, received (at multiple times) and consented to the agreement, pointing to the fact that her entire complaint arose from the terms of the very agreement that contained the arbitration clause. The court summed up its reasoning, stating “this Court finds no basis to allow [customer] to rely on the enforceability of the [agreement] for her affirmative claims while simultaneously disclaiming the enforceability of that very same contract to avoid arbitration.”
By Maycee Redfearn, [email protected]
Edited By Ashley Boyce, [email protected]
Edited By Hayden Mariott, [email protected]