Zeltzer v. Carte Blanche Corp.

375 F. Supp. 717, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8769
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 30, 1974
DocketCiv. A. No. 71-822
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 375 F. Supp. 717 (Zeltzer v. Carte Blanche Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zeltzer v. Carte Blanche Corp., 375 F. Supp. 717, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8769 (W.D. Pa. 1974).

Opinion

OPINION

TEITELBAUM, District Judge.

On September 2, 1971, this suit, purporting to be a class action under the Truth-In-Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S. C. § 1601 et seq., was filed. The gist of plaintiff’s complaint was that defendant had violated TILA in the period between January 1, 1970 and November 1, 1970 by failing to properly disclose the manner in which overpayments to cardholder’s airline charge accounts would be credited. It was alleged that by failing to properly disclose the manner in which such a transaction would be handled, Carte Blanche was in violation of Section 1637(a)(2), (b)(8) and (b)(9) of TILA and Section 226.7a(2), b(8) and b(9) of Regulation Z (12 CFR § 226 et seq.).

On November 29, 1971, at a status conference with counsel for both parties present, further proceedings in this case were postponed until a decision was rendered by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in the similar and related case of Katz v. Carte Blanche, 53 F.R.D. 539 (W.D.Pa.1971).1 On March 15, 1974, the Court of Appeals en bcmc rendered a decision in the case.

Prior to the en banc Katz decision, the parties had filed briefs on both defendant’s motion to dismiss and plaintiff’s motion for class determination. Although at the time of the Katz decision both motions were seemingly ripe for adjudication, the Katz opinion made clear that, at least under certain specified circumstances, which circumstances are present in the case sub judice, a decision on the merits should precede any adjudication on the class question. With this background in mind, we proceed to the merits of plaintiff’s cause of action, called into question here by Carte Blanche’s motion to dismiss.

During the period in question, Carte Blanche made the following disclosures in its monthly bills to cardholders who used the Carte Blanche card to purchase airline tickets:

Airline Charges
Explanation of Extended Pay Plan

Monthly installments are billed as follows :

Amount of Individual Ticket Monthly Installment
$600.00 or less Vis (Min. $10. per mo.)
$600.01 to $900.00 Vis
$900.01 or more Vu
Larger payments may be made, or the entire remaining balance may be paid at any time without penalty.
A monthly finance charge imposed at the periodic rate of 1%% of the unpaid balance at billing date is added in accordance with tariff filed by airlines. This is an annual percentage rate of 18%.
Default in any payment due may, at our option, render the entire balance due.

As can readily be seen, Carte Blanche makes no statement whatsoever in its disclosure as to the allocation of over-payments other than to note that “Larger payments may be made ... at any time without penalty.” It appears that during the period in question, airline account overpayments were in fact credited to a cardholder’s general account.2 Plaintiff however contends that there was a violation of the above-cited sections of TILA and Regulation Z since he understood that Carte Blanche would follow a contrary practice, that is, [719]*719allocate airline account overpayments as credits to a cardholder’s airlines account.

In framing the issue in this case, it is important to understand that whether or not financial detriment was visited upon plaintiff as a result of overpayments being credited to one account rather than the other or whether the practice followed seems to be overreaching and inappropriate are immaterial. The sole issue before the Court is whether or not defendant violated TILA and Regulation Z by failing to disclose its overpayment allocation procedure, regardless of the effect or merits of that procedure. Nor is the question before the Court whether a reasonable man would be justified in making the inference drawn by plaintiff, that airline overpayments would be credited to one’s airline account. The question is whether Carte Blanche disclosed what it was required to disclose under the provisions of TILA and Regulation Z.

Section 1637 of TILA, which plaintiff contends has been violated, reads in pertinent part as follows:

“Open end consumer credit plans — Required disclosures by creditor
(a) Before opening any account under an open end consumer credit plan, the creditor shall disclose to the person to whom credit is to be extended each of the following items, to the extent applicable :
(1) The conditions under which a finance charge may be imposed, including the time period, if any, within which any credit extended may be repaid without incurring a finance charge.
(2) The method of determining the balance upon which a finance charge will be imposed.
Statement required with each billing cycle
(b) The creditor of any account under an open end consumer credit plan shall transmit to the obligor, for each billing cycle at the end of which there is an outstanding balance in that account or with respect to which a finance charge is imposed, a statement setting forth each of the following items to the extent applicable:
(8) The balance on which the finance charge was computed and a statement of how the balance was determined. If the balance is determined without first deducting all credits during the period, that fact and the amount of such payments shall also be disclosed.
(9) The outstanding balance in the account at the end of the period.'
(10) The date by which, or the period (if any) within which, payment must be made to avoid additional finance charges.”

Section 226.7 of Regulation Z, the interpretation of TILA issued by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors under their mandate from Congress to prescribe regulations to effectuate the purposes of the Act (15 U.S.C. § 1604), reads in pertinent part as follows:

“(a) Before the first transaction is made on any open end credit account, the creditor shall disclose to the customer in a single written statement, which the customer may retain, in terminology consistent with the requirements of paragraph B of this Section, each of the following items, to the extent applicable ... (2) The method of determining the balance upon which a finance charge may be imposed.

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Bluebook (online)
375 F. Supp. 717, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8769, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zeltzer-v-carte-blanche-corp-pawd-1974.