CREDIT UNION TIMES Vol. 8, No. 1 January 1, 1997

Looking back six years ago finds 11 Utah credit unions filing a counter suit against the Utah Bankers Association seeking $1.5 billion in damages. The damages represent the losses the credit unions would collectively suffer if the UBA should succeed in its effort to restrict credit union membership only to the county in which the CU is based. “Banks have benefited from those field of membership expansions, but now are asking credit unions to be shut out and restricted in the future. That’s not right. These credit unions have valid fields of membership according to their charter and the law in this state. These FOMs were approved by the banking commissioner,” said Bruce Richards, the attorney for the CUs. According to Richards, if bankers are granted the injunctive relief they are seeking, they must restore credit unions to their original status quo. That issue also marks a flurry of other state suits filed by bankers over CU membership expansion in Colorado, Maine, Montana and Texas. In addition, the credit union movement was waiting for the Supreme Court’s ruling in the landmark AT&T Family case.