Zachman v. Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union

49 F.4th 95
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided September 14, 2022·No. 21-999-cv·Published·Cited by 66 cases

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 . . . Each of your accounts at 13 Hudson Valley Credit Union is also governed by the applicable 14 account disclosures. Your use of the services is your 15 acknowledgement that you have received these agreements and agree 16 to be bound by them.

17 App’x at 290. The Internet Banking Agreement informs members that they are 18 bound by the terms and conditions of, among other things, the Account 19 Agreement and provides URLs to access the relevant agreements, which include 20 a “Mandatory Arbitration” provision and “Class Waiver” provision:

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

49 F.4th 95 (Zachman v. Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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