Recent news of Northwest Federal Credit Union’s successful challenge to an ADA lawsuit may seem like an omen for the industry, but it doesn’t mean similar cases against other credit unions will necessarily end the same way — or that new suits won’t arrive, one industry attorney has warned.
Herndon, Virginia-based Northwest Federal Credit Union, which has $3.3 billion in assets and about 251,000 members, is one of over 70 credit unions around the country that have been sued in recent months over the ADA accessibility of their websites. On Friday, Virginia District Court Judge Claude Hilton ruled that the credit union’s website is not a public place of accommodation and that the plaintiff in the case had no standing because he wasn’t eligible to join the credit union.
“From my perspective, this Virginia court decision is the first really welcome infusion of common sense that we can use as a legal foothold to stem the tide of these lawsuits,” attorney Chad Heckman told CU Times. Heckman represents a Florida credit union currently facing a similar ADA suit.
For other ADA cases against credit unions in the Eastern District of Virginia, where the Northwest FCU case was heard, the decision could be especially significant, Heckman noted.
“Judges who are brethren on the same court, obviously they’re going to talk about these cases a lot more. Now you have a judge we know has this certain opinion, who may be able to persuade others to go the same way,” he explained.
But outside the Eastern District of Virginia, the case’s significance is a little more ambiguous.
“I’m hopeful this decision and the reasoning in it, although brief, are going to be adopted elsewhere in the country. But it’s too early to tell,” Heckman said.
The case against Northwest FCU was dismissed without prejudice, which means the plaintiff could try to bring the lawsuit again in the same court on the same issues but with a different complaint. There’s also a good chance the plaintiff will appeal the decision, Heckman said.
“There’s a lot riding on this for them,” he said.
The outcomes of ADA cases outside the credit union industry may also affect what happens next. Heckman and other attorneys who have spoken to CU Times have kept a close eye on a case against grocer Winn-Dixie, for example. A recent ruling found for the plaintiff, but Winn-Dixie later filed an appeal in the Eleventh Circuit.
“That decision may or may not take a long time to be rendered…which is why you see the huge rush to file suit,” Heckman said.
“They want to get ahead of it, because if they get a bad decision in the Eleventh Circuit, that’s going to govern, basically, the southeastern United States. That’s not only going to knock out our Florida cases, but also the ones that have started in Georgia,” he explained.
To date, at least 79 credit unions in nine states have been sued since last September over the accessibility of their websites, according to a CU Times tally of court records.
In the meantime, the decision in the Northwest FCU case may cause some other credit unions to think twice about settling their ADA suits.
“I think credit unions who have low deductibles and they have coverage are probably incentivized and emboldened now that we have a foothold,” Heckman said.
The decision usually involves the credit union’s insurer, though.
“In a sense, the credit union then doesn’t fully drive the bus because all the insurance policies provide that they can’t unreasonably refuse settlements,” Heckman said.
Many times, it’s a business decision.
“For a lot of smaller credit unions that I talk to, I can see the overwhelming incentive to just make it go away,” he said.
