ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601220052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Supreme Court will resolve a dispute over at least a portion of those late-payment fees that bedevil some credit card customers.
The justices said Friday they will decide whether card companies can charge fees that otherwise would be barred in customers' home states. A California lawsuit says that state's law bars the $15 late-payment fee charged by Citibank's South Dakota-based credit card operation.
Federal law allows national banks to charge the highest interest rate allowed by a bank's home state.
The lawsuit argues that late-payment fees are not ``interest'' and therefore should be governed by the laws where customers live, not the company's home state.
The court also agreed to decide:
In a case involving a heart pacemaker, whether the makers of medical devices can be sued for alleged design defects even though federal regulators approved the sale of their products.
The government's duty, if any, to pay damages to savings and loan associations for changing capital requirements. The case involves three thrift owners, and the Clinton administration says there are about 100 similar cases involving $10 billion in disputed assets.
When federal judges can revise financial awards made by juries.
Whether criminal defendants facing more than one minor charge are entitled to a jury trial if the possible sentences add up to more than six months in jail.
Whether to limit how much money people can win in civil rights lawsuits against employers who illegally discriminated against them.
The credit card dispute involves a lawsuit filed in 1992 against Citibank by Barbara Smiley of Los Angeles. She challenged the company's policy of charging a $15 late-payment fee regardless of the amount overdue.
Smiley filed a class-action lawsuit in state court, Citibank's credit card operation, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., issues MasterCard and Visa credit cards.contending a late-payment fee was not interest and thus was governed by California law. That state's law allows a late fee of $5 per month or 5 percent of the amount due, whichever is less.
A state judge dismissed the lawsuit, and California appeals courts agreed.
In the appeal granted Supreme Court review, Smiley's lawyers said a late-payment fee is a penalty because it is not based on the amount owed or how long it has been owed.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB