Santa Monica Files Appeal in Fight Against ATM Fees
City officials on Friday filed an appeal of a federal judge’s recent ruling barring the city from regulating fees charged to people who use automated bank teller machines but do not maintain accounts at those institutions.
The appeal was filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, city attorneys said.
Attorneys for the city of San Francisco, which is challenging the same ruling, expect to file a notice of appeal by Monday, city spokesman Mark Slavin said.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco ruled that both cities violated federal law by passing ordinances outlawing the bank surcharges at Wells Fargo and Bank of America. The city ordinances do not affect the separate charges that banks impose on their own customers for using the machines.
The cities were the first in the U.S. to attempt to ban ATM surcharges within their limits. City officials say the fees are excessive. Fees average about $1.50 per transaction, bank officials said. Santa Monica’s Deputy City Atty. Adam Radinsky said the judge’s ruling voiding the ordinances was flawed because “in fact, the federal regulations leave room for state and local regulation of bank fees.”
The legal battle began in November when the two banks and the California Bankers Assn. filed suit against the cities challenging the ordinances.
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