Italian Colors Restaurant v. Harris

99 F. Supp. 3d 1199, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39030, 2015 WL 1405507
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMarch 26, 2015
DocketNo. 2:14-cv-00604-MCE-DAD
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 99 F. Supp. 3d 1199 (Italian Colors Restaurant v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Italian Colors Restaurant v. Harris, 99 F. Supp. 3d 1199, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39030, 2015 WL 1405507 (E.D. Cal. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR., Chief Judge.

This action challenges the constitutionality of section 1748.1 of the California Civil Code, which states in subsection (a):

No retailer in any sales, service, or lease transaction with a consumer may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment [1203]*1203by cash, check, or similar means. A retailer may, however, offer discounts for the purpose of inducing payment by cash, check, or other means not involving the use of a credit card, provided that the discount is offered to all prospective buyers.

If a retailer imposes a surcharge, the cardholder is entitled to recover three times the amount of actual damages, plus attorney’s fees and costs. Id. § 1748.1(b).

Plaintiffs are five California businesses — a restaurant, gas station, dry cleaners, transmission repair business, and web design company — and their respective owners. They filed this action against the California Attorney General, in her official capacity, alleging that section 1748.1 violates the First Amendment as an unlawful restriction on commercial speech because the statute regulates how retailers can describe the price difference between cash and credit purchases.1 For example, a retailer could charge $102 for a product and give a $2 discount, but could not charge $100 and impose a $2 surcharge, despite the situations being mathematically equivalent. Thus, the statute restricts how this $2 price difference is presented to the consumer. Plaintiffs also allege that the statute violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because the law is void for vagueness. Accordingly, in their operative First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), Plaintiffs request that the Court declare the law unconstitutional and enjoin its enforcement. FAC, ECF No. 5 at 19.

After reviewing the filings in this case and holding a hearing on December 18, 2014, the Court finds that this regulation is an unconstitutional restriction on Plaintiffs’ freedom of speech and is void for vagueness. Accordingly, Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 11) is GRANTED, and Defendant’s Motion' for Summary Judgment or, in the alternative,Summary Adjudication (ECF No. 22) is DENIED.

BACKGROUND

There is a long history of “no-surcharge” rules in the United States. Originally, credit card companies contractually banned any attempt to differentiate between credit and cash purchases. See Edmund W. Kitch, The Framing Hypothesis: Is it Supported by Credit Card Issuer Opposition to a Surcharge on a Cash Price?, 6 J.L. Econ. & Org. 217, 219-20 (1991). But in 1974, American Express dropped its private ban on dual pricing. Id. at 225. That same year, Congress amended the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”) to allow the practice. Fair Credit Billing Act, Pub.L. No. 98-495, tit. Ill, § 306, 88 Stat. 1500, 1515 (1974) (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1666f(a)). The language used in the 1974 TILA amendment focused solely on the use of discounts: “a card issuer may not, by contract, or otherwise, prohibit any such seller from offering a discount to a cardholder to induce the .cardholder to pay by cash, check, or similar means rather than use a credit card.” Id. Then, in 1976, Congress enacted a temporary federal ban on surcharges. See State Taxation of Depositories Act, Pub.L. No. 94-222, § 3(c)(1), 90 Stat. 197 (1976). This ban was extended twice. See Financial Institutions Regulatory & Interest Rate Control Act, Pub.L. 95-630, § 1501, 92 Stat. 3641, 3713 (1978); Cash Discount Act, Pub.L. No. 97-25, § 201, 95 Stat. 144 (1981). When Congress let the ban lapse, credit card companies advocated for similar legislation at the state level.. “No-surcharge” laws were eventually enacted in ten states.2

[1204]*1204In 1985, California passed its own “no-surcharge” law, which is the law now challenged by Plaintiffs. The stated legislative intent in passing the law was “to promote the effective operation of the free market and protect consumers from deceptive price increases for goods and services by prohibiting credit card surcharges and encouraging the availability of discounts by those retailers who wish to offer a lower price for goods and services purchased by some form of payment other than credit card.” Cal. Civ.Code § 1748.1(e).

Only one California case has resulted from the enforcement of section 1748.1: Thrifty Oil Co. v. Superior Court, 91 Cal.App.4th 1070, 111 Cal.Rptr.2d 253 (2001). In Thrifty, the California Court of Appeal held that the statute allows a non-deceptive dual-pricing scheme where credit card users are charged more than cash users. At Thrifty’s California service stations, both the cash price and the credit price for gasoline were prominently displayed and disclosed to customers. Id. at 1074, 111 Cal.Rptr.2d 253. Further, Thrifty claimed that the higher credit price represented the actual cost charged to Thrifty by the credit card company. Id. at 1077, 111 Cal.Rptr.2d 253. While the plaintiff argued that the pricing scheme was unlawful because the credit card price was higher than the “normal price,” the court reasoned that the two-tiered pricing was permissible since there was a “clear as day” disclosure of the price difference and the price reflected the increased cost to Thrifty for credit card transactions. While not conclusively determined, the court suggested that any dual pricing system was legal under section 1748.1 as long as the price difference was disclosed and limited to the additional credit card cost to the merchant. Id. at 1077-79, 111 Cal.Rptr.2d 253. However, in concluding that this pricing system constituted a “permissible discount, not an unlawful surcharge,” the court provided no further guidance on the boundary between a discount and a surcharge. Id. at 1073, 111 Cal.Rptr.2d 253.

Thus, section 1748.1 appears to permit Plaintiffs to charge more for credit card purchases than cash purchases, regardless of the “normal price” of the item, as long as this price difference is framed as a discount rather than a surcharge. Plaintiffs claim that the statute is unconstitutional because, while it does not affect pricing, it does affect how Plaintiffs can convey the prices to their customers. Retailers would like to emphasize that the higher price is a surcharge because behavioral economics research has shown that customers are “loss averse” and a potential economic penalty will motivate them to change their behavior more than a potential economic benefit. See generally Daniel Khneman et al., Anomalies: The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias, 5 J. Econ. Persp. 193, 199 (1991); Adam Levitan, The Antitrust Super Bowl: America’s Payment Systems, No-Surcharge Rules, and the Hidden Cost of Credit, 3 Berkeley Bus. L.J. 265, 280-81 (2006). It follows, Plaintiffs reason, that the most effective way to encourage customers to switch from credit cards to cash payments is to emphasize an economic penalty associated with the use of credit cards.

Retailers would like to discourage the use of credit cards because a “merchant” or “swipe” fee (usually 2-3% of the purchase price) is charged when customers pay with a credit card.

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Bluebook (online)
99 F. Supp. 3d 1199, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39030, 2015 WL 1405507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/italian-colors-restaurant-v-harris-caed-2015.