Mikaela Tran, on behalf of herself and all other similarly situated v. Bank of America, N.A.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedFebruary 27, 2026
Docket3:25-cv-01232
StatusUnknown

This text of Mikaela Tran, on behalf of herself and all other similarly situated v. Bank of America, N.A. (Mikaela Tran, on behalf of herself and all other similarly situated v. Bank of America, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mikaela Tran, on behalf of herself and all other similarly situated v. Bank of America, N.A., (S.D. Cal. 2026).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MIKAELA TRAN, on behalf of herself Case No.: 25-cv-1232-AJB-SBC and all other similarly situated 12 ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO

DISMISS 13 Plaintiff, 14 (Doc. No. 12) v. 15 BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., 16 Defendants. 17 18 19 Plaintiff Mikaela Tran (“Plaintiff”) initiated this class action complaint against 20 Defendant Bank of America, N.A. on May 14, 2025. (Doc. No. 1.) On July 1, 2025, BofA 21 filed the instant Motion to Dismiss (“Motion”) seeking to dismiss the Complaint in its 22 entirety under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). (Doc. No. 12.) BofA 23 also filed a request for judicial notice in support of the Motion. (Doc. No. 12-4.) Plaintiff 24 opposed the Motion (Doc. No. 14), and BofA replied (Doc. No. 15). Having considered 25 the parties’ arguments and the relevant law, the Court GRANTS BofA’s Motion to 26 Dismiss. 27 28 1 I. BACKGROUND 2 Bank of America, N.A. (“BofA”) is a national banking association with its main 3 corporate offices located in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Doc. No. 1 ¶ 15.) The State of 4 California partnered with BofA to electronically deliver benefit payments such as 5 unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and family leave. (Id. ¶ 16.) These benefit 6 payments, issued by the California Employment Development Department (“EDD”), were 7 electronically deposited into individualized debit card accounts. (Id. ¶ 2.) BofA established 8 and maintained the individual prepaid card accounts, into which the EDD directly 9 deposited funds. (Id. ¶ 17.) These funds were deposited for the purpose of distributing 10 public benefits as part of the State’s unemployment and disability program. (Id. ¶ 2.) 11 Plaintiff alleges that by agreeing to administer the prepaid debit card program for 12 the EDD, BofA entered into a special fiduciary relationship with each of the benefits 13 recipients who received their benefits on a prepaid debit card. (Id. ¶¶ 46–51.) Plaintiff 14 alleges that the funds the EDD deposited into her account were “special-purpose custodial 15 holdings” (i.e., special deposits), and as such “interest or income earned on [the] funds . . . 16 belongs to the beneficial owner of the funds, not the custodian.” (Id. ¶¶ 4, 32.) According 17 to the Complaint, BofA “leveraged these custodial accounts to generate significant 18 investment returns––known as ‘float income’—during the time it held recipients’ funds 19 prior to withdrawal.” (Id. ¶ 3.) 20 The debit card accounts were created and controlled by BofA, and BofA operated as 21 the financial intermediary, with control over the timing, method, and structure of account 22 management and fund access. (Id. ¶ 23.) To activate and use the cards, recipients were 23 required to accept BofA’s standard form Terms and Conditions, which governed the 24 contractual relationship and outlined the cardholder’s rights and BofA’s obligations. (Id. 25 ¶ 24.) That agreement stated that funds in each card account belonged to the individual 26 recipient, not to BofA. (Id. ¶ 25.) The agreement also noted that EDD cardholders were not 27 traditional depositors and lacked the rights and privileges associated with BofA’s general 28 banking customers. (Id. ¶ 26.) 1 Plaintiff alleges she is one of more than a million California residents that was 2 enrolled in the EDD debit card program. (Id. ¶¶ 21, 29.) She enrolled in the EDD public 3 benefit program in or around August 2023 and, pursuant to that enrollment, received a 4 prepaid debit card issued by BofA, which was linked to a designated deposit account 5 administered by BofA. (Id. ¶ 29.) Over a span of approximately six months, from 6 September 2023 to February 2024, Plaintiff’s benefit payments were electronically 7 transferred into her BofA-issued EDD account. (Id. ¶ 30.) The funds deposited into this 8 account were held by BofA for the benefit of Plaintiff and subject to her ownership rights. 9 (Id. ¶ 32.) 10 Plaintiff contends that under California law, such deposits qualify as special-purpose 11 custodial holdings—or “special deposits”—and the bank had no lawful claim to any 12 interest or profits derived from them. (Id. ¶¶ 2, 32.) Nevertheless, BofA used the funds 13 while they remained under its control—whether for overnight float, investment purposes, 14 or pooled asset management—to generate undisclosed financial returns. (Id. ¶ 33.) BofA 15 did not disclose to Plaintiff that it was retaining the investment proceeds arising from her 16 deposits, nor did it offer her any compensation for the use of her funds, despite having no 17 ownership interest in them. (Id. ¶ 34.) Thus, Plaintiff alleges she was deprived of earnings 18 that rightfully belonged to her. (Id. ¶ 35.) Plaintiff concedes that she is not seeking 19 “interest” on her special deposit account but is instead seeking BofA’s “earnings” it gained 20 based on its use of her funds. (Id. ¶¶ 34–35, 49–51, 62, 68, 78; Doc. No. 14 at 10.1) 21 By way of this action, Plaintiff seeks to recover those gains, along with injunctive 22 and declaratory relief. (Id. ¶ 35.) Plaintiff alleges causes of action for breach of fiduciary 23 duty, violation of the Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), conversion, and—in the 24 alternative—unjust enrichment. (See generally Doc. No. 1.) 25 26

27 1 Citations to the record refer to the CM/ECF system page number at the top of each page rather than the 28 1 II. LEGAL STANDARD 2 A. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) 3 Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution limits federal courts to hearing “actual cases 4 or controversies.” Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 578 U.S. 330, 337 (2016), as revised (May 24, 5 2016). This limitation means the plaintiff must have standing to sue. Id. at 338. To establish 6 standing, a plaintiff must demonstrate the “irreducible constitutional minimum” of: (1) an 7 injury-in-fact via “an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and 8 particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical”; (2) causation— 9 that the injury is “fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant”; and 10 (3) redressability—that it is “likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will 11 be redressed by a favorable decision.” Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560–61 12 (1992) (internal citations and quotations omitted). “Each element of standing ‘must be 13 supported . . . with the manner and degree of evidence required at the successive stage of 14 the litigation.’” Maya v. Centex Corp., 658 F.3d 1060, 1068 (9th Cir. 2011) (quoting Lujan, 15 504 U.S. at 561). 16 A motion to dismiss for lack of standing is brought pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil 17 Procedure 12(b)(1). See Chandler v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 598 F.3d 1115, 1122 18 (9th Cir. 2010) (noting that “[b]ecause standing and ripeness pertain to federal courts’ 19 subject matter jurisdiction, they are properly raised in a Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss”). 20 Such a motion can be facial or factual in nature. Pride v. Correa, 719 F.3d 1130, 1139 (9th 21 Cir. 2013). “In a facial attack, the challenger asserts that the allegations contained in a 22 complaint are insufficient on their face to invoke federal jurisdiction.” Safe Air for 23 Everyone v. Meyer, 373 F.3d 1035, 1039 (9th Cir. 2004).

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Mikaela Tran, on behalf of herself and all other similarly situated v. Bank of America, N.A., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mikaela-tran-on-behalf-of-herself-and-all-other-similarly-situated-v-bank-casd-2026.