Plaintiff v Canada's Big Banks
Canadian Banks Lose Class Action Over Credit Card Charges
Canada's big banks have lost an important round in their battle to be excluded from provincial consumer protection laws.
In a Quebec Superior Court judgment, the Big Six banks and Desjardins Group, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Citibank Canada and Amex Bank were ordered to reimburse tens of thousands of credit card customers more than $200-million.
Mr. Justice Clement Gascon ruled that the financial institutions were in flagrant violation of the province's consumer protection law when they charged a fee for foreign currency transactions on customers' credit cards.
While this ruling applies only to Quebec, the fear is that it could become a precedent used in other provinces and force the banks to comply with a patchwork of different rules in 13 provinces and territories, they said.
Bruce Johnston, one of the lawyers acting for the plaintiffs, said in an interview yesterday that the decision clarifies the issue of whether or not Quebec's consumer protection law applies to the financial institutions.
Under Quebec law, there must be a 21-day grace period for making credit card payments without having to pay a credit charge.
The ruling covers the years 2000 to 2007 and customers who conducted foreign currency transactions over that period using Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards.
The judgment also calls for punitive damages against some of the financial institutions of $25 per customer.
For more information please contact:
Bruce Johnston
Law Offices of Bruce Johnston
8040 Northeast Day Road
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Phone: (206)842-1542
