Lynn Rowell v. Leslie Pettijohn

816 F.3d 73, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 3961, 2016 WL 825396
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMarch 2, 2016
Docket15-50168
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 816 F.3d 73 (Lynn Rowell v. Leslie Pettijohn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lynn Rowell v. Leslie Pettijohn, 816 F.3d 73, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 3961, 2016 WL 825396 (5th Cir. 2016).

Opinions

RHESA HAWKINS BARKSDALE, Circuit Judge:

For this challenge tó a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) (failure to state a claim) dismissal, upholding Texas’ Anti-Surcharge Law, Tex. Fin.Code § 339.001, at issue is whether the law’s proscribing merchants’ imposing surcharges for credit-card purchases constitutes a First Amendment violation. In contending the law violates free-speech rights, a group of Texas [76]*76merchants claim the law: penalizes them for characterizing pricing as a “surcharge”, while at the same time not prohibiting a “discount” for non-credit-card transactions; and is unconstitutionally vague. The Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner counters the law is instead a permissible economic-pricing regulation that does not implicate the First Amendment. AFFIRMED.

I.

Texas’ law forbids merchants from charging an extra fee to consumers who pay with a credit card. It was enacted to address how the “swipe fee” of two to three percent of the purchase price, which credit-card issuers charge merchants for each transaction paid with a credit card, is passed on from the merchant to the consumer.

There is a substantial federal-law backdrop to the challenged Texas law. For over a decade prior to its enactment, Congress had been regulating surcharges and discounts related to credit cards. In 1974, Congress amended the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit credit-card companies from contracting against discounts for non-credit-card transactions. Fair Credit Billing Act, Pub.L. No. 93-495, tit. III, § 306, 88 Stat. 1500, 1515 (1974) (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1666f(a)) (“the card issuer may not, by contract, or otherwise, prohibit any ... 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”).

Before the amendment, credit-card companies’ contracts with merchants regularly prohibited their either offering discounts for non-credit-card transactions, or imposing surcharges for crediLcard transactions. The merchants and credit-card companies contracted to offer the same price for an item for all consumers, regardless of the manner in which they paid, and despite the “swipe fee” merchants incurred for credit-card transactions.

Two years later, while the authorization of discounts remained, Congress banned merchants’ use of surcharges, by again amending the Truth in Lending Act. Pub.L. No. 94-222, § 3, 90 Stat. 197 (1976) (“No seller in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check, or similar means.”). At the same time, Congress clarified the distinction between “surcharge” and “discount”, by defining them according to their ordinary meaning: a “discount” is “a reduction made from the regular price”; a “surcharge”, “any means of increasing the regular price to a cardholder which is not imposed upon customers paying by cash, check, or similar means”. Id. (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1602(q)-(r)).

When Congress extended the statute in 1981, it defined “regular price” to further distinguish between “surcharge” and “discount”:

[T]he tag or posted price charged for the property or service if a single price is tagged or posted, or the price charged for the property or service when payment is made by use of ... a credit card if either (1) no price is tagged or posted, or (2) two prices are tagged or posted, one of which is charged when payment is made by use of a ... credit card and the other when payment is made by use of cash, check, or similar means.

Cash Discount Act, Pub.L. No. 97-25, § 102, 95 Stat. 144 (1981) (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1602(y)).

The federal ban on surcharges was renewed twice before being allowed to expire in 1984, in the face of continued criticism from consumer advocates and the Federal Reserve Board. See Financial Institutions [77]*77Regulatory & Interest Rate Control Act, Pub.L. No. 95-630, § 1501, 92 Stat. 3641, 3713 (1978); Cash Discount Act, Pub.L. No. 97-25, § 201, 95 Stat. 144 (1981); Cash Discount Act, 1981: Hearings on S. 414 Before Senate Banking Comm., 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 9 (18 Feb. 1981). On the other hand, and of significance here, the authorization for discounts remained. Fair Credit Billing Act, Pub.L. No. 93-495, tit. III, § 306, 88 Stat. 1500, 1515 (1974) (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1666f(a)).

Upon the lapse of the federal anti-surcharge law in 1984, credit-card companies began reviving anti-surcharge clauses in their contracts with merchants. Similarly, States, including Texas, began enacting anti-surcharge legislation. Its 1985 anti-surcharge law provides: “In a sale of goods or services, a seller may not impose a surcharge on a buyer who uses a credit card for an extension of credit instead of cash, a check, or a similar means of payment”. S.B. 1353, 69th Leg., Reg. Sess., ch. 443, § 1, Tex. Gen. Laws 1578, 1578 (Tex. 1985) (codified at Tex. Fin.Code § 339.001(a)). The law does not ban, nor does it mention, discounts. Other States also adopted anti-surcharge legislation. See, e.g., Cal. Civ.Code § 1748.1(a), held unconstitutional by Italian Colors Rest. v. Harris, 99 F.Supp.3d 1199 (E.D.Cal.), appeal docketed, No. 15-15873 (9th Cir. 30 Apr. 2015); Colo.Rev.Stat. § 5-2-212; Conn. Gen.Stat. § 42—133ff; Fla. Stat. § 501.0117, held unconstitutional by Dana’s R.R. Supply v. Att’y Gen. of Fla., 807 F.3d 1235 (11th Cir.), reh’g denied 809 F.3d 1282 (11th Cir.2016); Kan. Stat. Ann. § 16a-2-403; Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140D, § 28A(a)(1)-(2); Me.Rev.Stat. tit. '9-A, § 8-509; Miss. Code Ann. § 31-7-9(d) (applying only to state-issued credit cards); N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 518; Okla. Stat. tit. 14A, § 2-211; Utah Code Ann. § 13-38a-302 (2013), repealed by § 631-1-213 (2014).

Beginning in 2005, antitrust actions against credit-card companies challenged anti-surcharge prohibitions in their merchant contracts; the litigation resulted in Visa, Mastercard, and American Express’ removing those provisions in 2013.

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816 F.3d 73, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 3961, 2016 WL 825396, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lynn-rowell-v-leslie-pettijohn-ca5-2016.