Toth v. Northwest Savings Bank

31 Pa. D. & C.5th 1
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedMarch 1, 2013
DocketNo. GD-12-008014
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 31 Pa. D. & C.5th 1 (Toth v. Northwest Savings Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Toth v. Northwest Savings Bank, 31 Pa. D. & C.5th 1 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2013).

Opinion

WETTICK, J,

— This opinion addresses two issues that are not resolved by the Pennsylvania appellate courts: (1) does the economic loss doctrine apply to private actions based on the catch-all provision of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law and (2) can a consumer pursue a private action based on the catch-all provision of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law without offering testimony regarding reliance?

PLAINTIFF’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT

[3]*3In her first amended complaint, plaintiff alleges that she was the victim of a deceptive practice in which Northwest Savings Bank (“Northwest”) maximized overdraft charges by (1) waiting until the end of a business day to determine whether the account balance in a customer’s checking account was sufficient to cover all debit transactions occurring between the end of the prior business day and the end of the current business day and (2) where there were multiple transactions within this period, reordering the debit transactions from the highest to lowest amounts, thereby maximizing the overdraft fees charged to the account holder whenever the total charges against the account at the end of the business day exceeded the account balance. In other words, a customer could incur overdraft charges in instances where there were sufficient funds in the account to cover the transaction at the time of the transaction.

EXAMPLE: The balance of the customer’s checking account as of 12:01 A.M. on Wednesday is $3,000; debit card transaction 1 at 7:00 A.M. - $7.27; transaction 2 at 8:15 A.M. - $4.21; transaction 3 at 12:37 P.M. - $21.16; transaction 4 at 1:01 P.M. -$3.13; transaction 5 - $2,989.00 at 3:30 P.M.

If this account was posted in chronological order, the customer would incur only one overdraft charge. If the account was posted from lowest to highest at the end of the business day, the customer would be charged for one overdraft. However, if the account is posted from highest to lowest at the end of the business day, the customer incurs [4]*4four separate overdraft charges. Under this third scenario, in which transaction 5 is posted first and transaction 3 second, the bank will assess overdraft charges on four transactions for which the actual funds in the customer’s account were sufficient at the time of each transaction to cover the debits submitted for payment.

The subject of this opinion and order of court is Northwest’s preliminary objections to plaintiff’s first amended complaint which raises the following five counts:

COUNT 1 - BREACH OF CONTRACT/BREACH OF THE COVENANT OF GOOD FAITH & FAIR DEALING

Plaintiff alleges that Northwest, through its overdraft policies and practices described in the first amended complaint, breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing implicit in the deposit agreement. Northwest has not filed preliminary objections as to this count.

COUNT II - UNCONSCIONABILITY

I am sustaining Northwest’s preliminary objection seeking dismissal of this count for the reasons set forth at pages 11-13 of my opinion in Henry v. PNC Bank, No. GD-10-022974, 160 P.L.J. 303, 306 (Allegheny C.P. Jan. 31, 2012)1

COUNT III - UNJUST ENRICHMENT

I am sustaining Northwest’s preliminary objections [5]*5seeking dismissal of this count for the reasons set forth at page 14 of my opinion in the Henry litigation. 160 P.LJ. at 306.

COUNT IV - RELIEF PURSUANT TO DECLARATORY JUDGMENT ACT

Plaintiff alleges at page 14, footnote 1, of its original complaint that Northwest’s deposit agreement now provides for Northwest to post customers transactions in the order it receives them. Consequently, I am dismissing this count.

COUNT V - VIOLATION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES AND CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW

Under 73 P.S. §§201-9.2 of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (“Consumer Protection Law”), a consumer who suffers any ascertainable loss of money as the result of the use or employment of a method, act, or practice declared unlawful at §201 -2(4) may bring a private action in which the consumer may seek an award of costs, reasonable attorney fees, and up to three times the actual damages sustained. Plaintiff seeks recoveiy under §201-2(4)(xxi), which includes among the unlawful practices “Engaging in any other fraudulent or deceptive conduct which creates a likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding.” This section is referred to as the catch-all provision.

Northwest does not challenge plaintiff’s contention that Northwest’s debit charge re-sequencing policies [6]*6and practices may constitute “fraudulent or deceptive conduct which creates a likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding.”2

Northwest contends that the Consumer Protection Law claims fail for two independent reasons: (1) the claims are barred by the economic loss doctrine and (2) plaintiff has failed to allege justifiable reliance.

Economic Loss Doctrine

Under the economic loss doctrine, no cause of action may be maintained in tort where the only injury is economic-that is any loss not arising out of a physical injury or damage to personal property. Northwest correctly states that through count V plaintiff seeks only monetary damages-she is not seeking damages for physical injury or damage to personal property. Thus, I consider whether a statutory claim may be barred by the economic loss doctrine.

If I was to apply the economic loss doctrine to a claim based on practices that constitute fraudulent or deceptive conduct which creates a likelihood of confusion or misunderstanding, this catch-all provision would be rendered nearly meaningless. Consumers raising claims under this catch-all provision have not sustained physical injuries or damage to property; their only damages are economic losses. Most of their claims may be summarized [7]*7as follows: “we did not get what we paid for because the defendant engaged in fraudulent or deceptive conduct.”

Within the past few years, hundreds of lawsuits raising claims under the Consumer Protection Law for economic losses have been filed in this court based on what are referred to as unfair insurance practices. For example, an insurance agent falsely represents that the life insurance policy which the plaintiff is purchasing will be fully paid through monthly payments of $100 for seven years.

Similarly, lawsuits are regularly filed by buyers of residential property under the Consumer Protection Law to recover damages based on the seller’s fraudulent misrepresentations or material omissions. For example, the seller failed to disclose that the house was not connected to the public sewer system as required by municipal ordinance.

It would be Northwest’s contention that in these examples the economic loss doctrine bars recovery under the Consumer Protection Law. Northwest relies on Werwinski v. Ford Motor Co., 286 F.3d 661 (3d Cir. 2002). In that case, the plaintiffs purchased Ford vehicles for family and household purposes, which were allegedly known by Ford to contain defective components.

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Related

Dixon, J. v. Northwestern Mutual
146 A.3d 780 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 Pa. D. & C.5th 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/toth-v-northwest-savings-bank-pactcomplallegh-2013.