Zachman v. Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union

49 F.4th 95
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedSeptember 14, 2022
Docket21-999-cv
StatusPublished
Cited by66 cases

This text of 49 F.4th 95 (Zachman v. Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zachman v. Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union, 49 F.4th 95 (2d Cir. 2022).

Opinion

21-999-cv Zachman v. Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union 1 2 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 3 FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT 4 ____________________ 5 6 August Term, 2021 7 8 (Argued: March 16, 2022 Decided: September 14, 2022) 9 10 Docket No. 21-999-cv 11 12 ____________________ 13 14 NICOLE ZACHMAN, ON BEHALF OF HERSELF AND ALL OTHERS 15 SIMILARLY SITUATED, 16 17 Plaintiff-Appellee, 18 19 v. 20 21 HUDSON VALLEY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, 22 23 Defendant-Appellant. 24 25 ____________________ 26 27 Before: POOLER, WESLEY, and MENASHI, Circuit Judges. 28 29 Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of New

30 York (Vincent L. Briccetti, J.) denying defendant Hudson Valley Federal Credit

31 Union’s (“HVCU”) motion to compel arbitration. Because the record was 1 insufficiently developed for the district court to deny the motion to compel

2 arbitration, we vacate and remand for further proceedings consistent with this

3 opinion.

4 Vacated and remanded. 5 ____________________

6 JAMES R. BRANIT, Litchfield Cavo LLP (Brian S. 7 Gitnik, Keith L. Gibson, on the brief), New York, N.Y., 8 for Defendant-Appellant Hudson Valley Federal Credit 9 Union. 10 11 SOPHIA GOREN GOLD, Kaliel Gold PLLC, 12 Washington, D.C., for Plaintiff-Appellee Nicole Zachman. 13 14 SUE J. NAM, Reese LLP, (on the brief), New York, N.Y. 15 for Plaintiff-Appellee Nicole Zachman. 16 17 POOLER, Circuit Judge:

18 Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union (“HVCU”) appeals from the

19 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New

20 York (Briccetti, J.) denying HVCU’s motion to compel arbitration of Nicole

21 Zachman’s putative class action claims for breach of contract, breach of the

22 covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and claims under New York law and the

23 federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act. 2 1 Zachman alleged that HVCU wrongly assessed and collected overdraft

2 fees and insufficient funds fees on checking accounts that were not actually

3 overdrawn. As relevant to this appeal, HVCU moved to compel arbitration on

4 the basis that Zachman was bound by a mandatory arbitration clause and class

5 action waiver provision in the Truth-in-Savings Standard Disclosure and

6 Account Agreement (“Account Agreement”). Zachman contends that when she

7 opened her account with HVCU in 2012, the Account Agreement did not contain

8 any mandatory arbitration clauses or class action waiver provisions, and that

9 because she was never notified of the addition of those provisions to the Account

10 Agreement, she is not bound by them.

11 HVCU argued below that Zachman was on inquiry notice of the modified

12 Account Agreement. It contended that when Zachman signed up for online

13 banking with HVCU in 2019, she agreed to an Internet Banking Agreement that

14 incorporated by reference the revised Account Agreement containing the

15 arbitration and class action waiver provisions; and that HVCU published the

3 1 modified Account Agreement on the HVCU website which Zachman used for

2 online banking. 1

3 The district court agreed with Zachman, finding that she was not on actual

4 or inquiry notice of the terms of the mandatory arbitration clause or class action

5 waiver provisions. It denied HVCU’s motion to compel arbitration. We conclude

6 that the district court erred in engaging in the inquiry notice analysis, which

7 requires an examination of the “design and content” of the webpage, without

8 reviewing the actual screenshots of the web-based contract. Therefore, we vacate

9 the district court’s judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with

10 this opinion.

11 BACKGROUND

12 A. Facts

13 HVCU is a not-for-profit credit cooperative and financial institution that

14 provides checking account services and other financial products to its members.

1On appeal, HVCU has abandoned its argument that Zachman was on notice of the Account Agreement because it was published on HVCU’s website. 4 1 Zachman is an active member of HVCU, where she maintains a checking account

2 and debit card.

3 On February 21, 2020, Zachman filed a class-action complaint, alleging that

4 HVCU’s practice of collecting overdraft or insufficient funds fees on accounts

5 that were not actually overdrawn violated New York General Business Law § 349

6 and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1693 et seq., and its

7 implementing regulation, known as Regulation E, 12 C.F.R. § 1005. In response,

8 HVCU moved to dismiss the complaint, which the district court construed as a

9 motion to compel arbitration. The district court ordered limited arbitration-

10 related discovery for the purpose of deciding the motion.

11 Joyce Keehan, HVCU’s senior compliance officer, testified that the

12 modified Account Agreement containing the arbitration provision and class

13 action waiver was published to the HVCU website. HVCU customers can access

14 the agreement via the HVCU website in two ways: 1) a user may run a search in

15 the website’s search bar which will bring up the Account Disclosures webpage

16 with a hyperlink to the account agreement; or 2) a user can reach the Account

17 Disclosures webpage by selecting the “Resources” tab on the right-side of an 5 1 options menu on HVCU’s website. App’x at 260-61. Keehan also testified that

2 users can obtain a physical copy by either requesting a hard copy be mailed to

3 them or going to a brick-and-mortar HVCU branch.

4 Keehan testified that she was not aware whether HVCU mailed or emailed

5 Zachman a copy of the revised Account Agreement containing the mandatory

6 arbitration and class action waiver provisions. HVCU did not post a notice of the

7 added arbitration and class action waiver provisions in its quarterly newsletters

8 or in members’ electronic statements, and it did not otherwise provide written

9 notice of those provisions to Zachman. Keehan acknowledged that the “only way

10 that [HVCU] provided notice of the arbitration provision and class action waiver

11 was by posting the new agreement that contained the arbitration provision and

12 class action waiver to its website.” App’x at 257. Additionally, HVCU did not

13 implement a “banner” notification on the webpage, provide a summary of any

14 changes made to the Account Agreement on the webpage where the agreement

15 is hyperlinked, or otherwise indicate any changes had been made to the Account

16 Agreement. App’x at 261.

6 1 Mark Timmerman, HVCU’s vice president of legal, corporate compliance

2 and risk, explained in an affidavit that in October 2019 HVCU converted to a

3 new online banking system. To use HVCU’s online banking services, users must

4 first register their accounts online. Registration requires that users first click

5 through and agree to various HVCU disclosures including an “Internet Banking

6 Disclosure and Agreement” (“Internet Banking Agreement”).

7 The Internet Banking Agreement states in relevant part:

8 If you do not agree to the terms of this Agreement do not access or 9 use the Internet Banking services. If you remain on the site, or return 10 thereafter, you agree to be bound by this Agreement . . . We may 11 change terms or amend this Agreement from time to time without 12 notice or as otherwise provided by law . .

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49 F.4th 95, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zachman-v-hudson-valley-federal-credit-union-ca2-2022.