Hasan v. Chase Bank USA, N.A.
Opinion
Malik Hasan ordered wine from Premier Cru Fine ,Wines (Premier Cru) and paid with credit cards issued by Chase
Bank
USA, N.A. (Chase) and American Express Centurion Bank (AmEx). Premier Cru declared bankruptcy while Hasan was still waiting for delivery of wine that he paid nearly $1 million for. Hasan asserts-that under a provision of the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA),
I
Hasan used his Chase and AmEx credit cards to purchase wine from Premier Cru for future delivery: Hasan paid up front, and Premier' Cru agreed to deliver the wine sometime in the future. Premier Cru fulfilled some, but not all, of Hasan’s orders. And in January 2016, Premier Cru declared bankruptcy. At that time, Hasan had paid $689,176.92 with his Chase card and $379,153.72 with his AmEx card for wine he never received.
Hasan asked both companies to refund his accounts for the undelivered wine under § 1666i of the FCBA. Chase complied in part and credited Hasan’s account $100,136.88. 1 AmEx refused to credit Ha-san’s account. So Hasan filed a lawsuit against each company, seeking $589,040.04 from Chase and $379,153.72 from AmEx.
Chase and AmEx each filed a motion to dismiss, arguing primarily that because Hasan had fully paid the balance on his credit cards/ he had no claim under § 1666i. The district court in Chase’s case ruled first, agreed with Chase’s interpretation of § 1666i, and dismissed the case. The district court in AmEx’s case adopted the statutory-interpretation reasoning of the earlier decision and dismissed Hasan’s case. Hasan appeals. 2
II
We review de novo a district court’s dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
Alvarado v. KOB-TV, LLC,
Statutory interpretation begins with the words in the statute.
Levorsen v.
*1219
Octapharma Plasma, Inc.,
The FCBA defines “credit” as “the right granted by a creditor to a debtor to defer payment of debt or to incur debt and defer its payment.” § 1602(f). In other words, when a creditor extends “credit” to someone, the person receiving the “credit” now has a debt to the creditor.
Here, Chase and AmEx extended “credit” to Hasan when he used his credit cards to buy wine. Chase and AmEx paid Premier Cru for the wine and granted Hasan the right to defer paying them that amount. See § 1602(f). So the amount of credit “outstanding” was whatever Hasan hadn’t yet paid to Chase and AmEx for the wine. But Hasan specifically alleged in his complaint that he paid both Chase and AmEx in full for his wine purchases. So there was ■no “credit outstanding!’ relating, to the wine purchases. And because recovery under § 1666i is limited to the “amount of credit outstanding,” Hasan .could recover nothing under that statute, ■
Attempting to avoid this result, Hasan offers a different interpretation, urging that “in the context of purchases for future delivery ‘the amount of credit outstanding with respect to such traiisaction’ means the aggregate payments by the cardholder to the card issuer bn account of the subject purchase transactibn(s) until, the purchased goods/services are delivered by the merchant.” Aplt. Br. 10 (quoting § 16661(b)). He points to the remainder of § 1666i(b), which describes howto determine the amount Of credit outstanding by applying “payments and credits” first to late charges, then, to finance charges, and then to purchases made with the card. According to Hasan, because the second sentence of § I666i(b) combines the terms “payments and credits” and discusses applying them to ah account, “credit” in this statute actually means “payment,” And although Hasan doesn’t make it explicit, what’s “outstanding”' in this argument is the delivery of the wine. So under Hasan’s reasoning, the “credit outstanding” refers to the payments he made'to Chase and AmEx for wine, which are outstanding because the wine hasn’t been délivered. 3 Of *1220 course, this doesn’t work because the payments themselves aren’t outstanding; Ha-san made his payments. It’s the delivery of wine that hasn’t occurred.
Further, Hasan’s argument ignores and contradicts both (1) the statutory definition of “credit” that we discuss above, and (2) the FCBA’s definition of “creditor.” First, a “credit” in the FCBA is the right to defer payment; it isn’t a payment itself. § 1602(f). Hasan recognizes that the FCBA defines “credit” and offers an unconvincing argument about why that definition doesn’t apply here. He suggests that if “credit” is equivalent to accumulated cardholder debt—which it is, according to the. § 1602(f) definition—then the discussion in § 1666i(b) about applying “payments and credits” to an account doesn’t make sense. But § 1666i(b) discusses applying “payments and
credits to the cardholder’s account.”
§ 1666i(b) (emphasis added). This plural use of the word “credit,” in the context of the words that follow it, appears to have a different meaning than the use of the singular “credit” earlier in the same provision.
See Yates v. United States,
- U.S. -,
Second, a “creditor” under the FCBA is one who “regularly extends ... consumer credit” or “honors [a] credit card and offers a discount which is a finance charge.” § 1602(g). So Chase and AmEx are “creditors” who extended “credit” to Hasan by granting hipi the right to defer payment on his wine purchases. See § 1602(f), (g). Confusingly, under Hasan’s interpretation, he extended “credit” (apparently to Premier Cru) when he made payments for future wine deliveries, and that credit remains “outstanding” until the wine is delivered. But there is no “credit” between Hasan and Premier Cru because no payment has been deferred, and the deferral of payment is part of the definition of credit. See § 1602(f). Further, Hasan is not a “creditor” under- the FCBA’s definition—he doesn’t regularly extend consumer credit or honor credit cards. See § 1602(g). So Hasan’s proposed interpretation of “credit outstanding” doesn’t work in light of the clear statutory definitions of “credit” and “creditor.”
Hasan neyertheless insists that his reading is more consistent with the-purpose of the FCBA. The FCBA is a remedial statute and should be construed broadly to protect consumers, but that doesn’t give this court license to read into the statute something that isn’t there.
See Johnson v. Riddle,
The plain language of the FCBA forecloses Hasan’s claims against Chase and AmEx. Section 1666i(a) provides that cardholders can assert non-tort claims and defenses against the card issuer. But any such claim is expressly limited to “the amount of credit outstanding with respect to [the disputed] transaction.” § 1666i(b). Hasan fully paid off both of his credit cards. So “the amount of credit outstanding with respect to” the undelivered wine is $0, and Hasan has no claim against •Chase or AmEx under this provision of the FCBA. § 1666i(b). Because we decide Ha-san’s claims on this ground, we need not address his argument that § 1666i(a) creates an affirmative right of action for cardholders against card issuers. 4 Regardless of whether such a right exists, Hasan has no claim because there is no “credit outstanding” related to the wine transactions. Additionally, because Hasan’s claims fail under § 1666i(b), we need not consider whether he has satisfied the geographical requirement of § 1666i(a)(3).
* * *
We affirm the orders dismissing Hasan’s complaints.
. This was the amount of disputed charges that had occurred within 540 days of Hasan’s demand letter. On appeal, Chase explains that this 540-day - rule comes from “interchange rules applicable to Hasan’s credit-card accounts.” Chase Br. 9 n.2. In other words, "the bank could charge back through the payment networks” any charges that a customer disputes, within ;540 days. Id. at 8. At oral argument, Chase clarified that its decision to refund Hasan’s account was a voluntary acconj-modation that wasn’t based on any statutory requirement in the FCBA.
. We decide both of Hasan's appeals in this opinion. As Hasan's counsel acknowledged át oral argument, both cases involve the same relevant facts and arguments.
. Hasan further supports his textual argument with references to how Chase and AmEx refer to payments and credits in their monthly billing statements. He claims that both companies use the word “credit” to mean “payment.” But the manner in which Chase and AmEx use the word "credit” in their billing statements isn’t'relevant to determining the meaning of the phrase “credit outstanding!’ in § 1666i(b), Hasan also provides a letter from an accounting firm opining that Hasan has correctly interpreted the statute. This letter is *1220 similarly irrelevant; we interpret statutes de novo, and while other interpretations may be interesting or even useful, they aren’t determinative.
. Some district courts have held that it does not.
See, e.g., Beaumont v. Citibank,
No. 01 Civ. 3393(DLC),
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Malik M. HASAN, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHASE BANK USA, N.A., Defendant-Appellee; Malik M. Hasan, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. American Express Centurion Bank, Defendant-Appellee
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published