Appellate court finds for NCUA in bankers' FOM case; ABA will not pursue

WASHINGTON-In the 21st bankers lawsuit against credit unions since 1984, and the only suit since the passage of the Credit Union Membership Access Act (H.R. 1151), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found the bankers’ case without merit. The American Bankers Association (ABA) filed suit against NCUA early in 1999, following the effective date of its Interpretive Ruling and Policy Statement (IRPS) 99-1, promulgated under the authority of H.R. 1151. The ABA charged that NCUA’s reg broke the law. The U.S. District Court denied the bankers’ claim in March of 2000, which the group appealed. Again, in November 2001, the appellate court found, “Except for one claim that we dismiss as moot and another as unripe, we find the ABA’s arguments without merit and affirm the district court’s dismissal of the case..” An ABA spokesperson said that though the trade association would no longer pursue this case, the ruling would not deter them from questioning, in a court of law, the validity of future NCUA regulations.