Florida’s Largest Credit Union Denies Lawsuit’s Allegations

Florida’s largest credit union, the $9.8 billion Suncoast Credit Union in Tampa, is denying claims that it cost a checking vendor more than $2 million for allegedly breaching a contract agreement.

According to a lawsuit filed earlier this month in federal court, the Econ-O-Check Corp. in Stockbridge, Ga., signed an agreement last year with Suncoast CU under which the credit union agreed to establish and promote ECC’s secure checking program at its 68 branches beginning in April 2018.

By September, however, Suncoast CU’s Chief Operating Officer Darlene Johnson told ECC that the credit union decided not to launch the secure checking program.

ECC claimed in its lawsuit that Suncoast allegedly did not provide any legal justification for failing to meet its contract obligations.

“Suncoast’s breach has caused and will continue to cause, ECC to suffer significant damages in excess of $2 million,” ECC’s lawsuit claimed.

ECC also alleged that Suncoast “feigned an interest in curing its breach by engaging in negotiations over the specific terms of the forbearance agreement.”

Although negotiations went on for several months, ECC claimed that Suncoast did not engage in talks in good faith and allegedly never intended to reach terms on a forbearance agreement to delay ECC’s filing of its lawsuit.

“We are aware of this lawsuit and strongly deny the allegations,” Suncoast Marketing Vice President Patti Barrow said. “They simply have no merit and we will aggressively defend our organization against the charges.”

ECC wants the contract dispute to be heard and settled by a jury. The company is also seeking unspecified amounts in compensation and punitive damages.