Vathana v. EverBank

No private right of action exists in order to enforce the provisions of the Truth in Savings Act.

Ek Vathana was the principal plaintiff that brought a class action for customers who held EverBank WorldCurrency CDs denominated Icelandic Kròna, against EverBank, for an alleged breach of contract when EverBank closed the CDs without class members' consent and for delivering the value of the closed CDs in U.S. dollars. In the suit, Vathana claims that the terms controlling the CDs required EverBank to renew the CDs automatically, which by failing to notify the class members of the change in status resulted in a violation of the Truth in Savings Act (“TISA”), and that there was no specified conversion rate for when the CDs were closed. EverBank moved for summary judgment, and the district court agreed with EverBank that Vathana would not be able to prevail on either theory of breach, to which Vathana appealed. The Ninth Circuit held that EverBank did not breach the terms controlling the accounts when EverBank closed them, but, as the terms and conditions were silent regarding the conversion rate, an issue of material fact does exist as to Vathana’s claim regarding the conversion rate at which EverBank utilized when the CDs were closed. However, EverBank did not act in bad faith when it closed the class member’s CDs. As such, no private right of action exists in order to enforce the provisions of the TISA. AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED.