Texas Credit Union Drops Lawsuit Against Brinks Security

A U.S. District Court judge in Houston dismissed a Texas credit union’s lawsuit against armored truck and security company Brinks over $92,000 that went missing from one of the ATMs of the $664 million PrimeWay Federal Credit Union.

A court document filed last week stated that PrimeWay and Brinks have resolved all pending claims in this case and that each party will be responsible for paying their own attorney fees and other litigation expenses.

“Accordingly, PrimeWay wishes to dismiss all claims against Brink’s which PrimeWay asserted in this case, with prejudice,” the court document read. With prejudice means the credit union’s claims cannot be refiled against Brinks ever again.

The mystery of the missing cash began after PrimeWay asked Brinks to remove cash from an old ATM in October 2019. The credit union was renovating its Fannin Street branch in Houston and replaced the old ATM with a new ITM.

A Brinks employee, not identified in court documents, removed the cash from the old ATM.

Several weeks later, the same Brinks employee returned to the branch to fill (with cash) the new ITM. Sometime after that, though no specific date was provided in court documents, PrimeWay discovered that $92,000 was missing from the ATM.

But it wasn’t until April 1, 2020, that the credit union notified Brinks that PrimeWay had no record of the cash being returned to the vault, according to court documents. Although the credit union contacted Brinks about the missing cash several times, it wasn’t until about a month later when the company said it had no record of the missing money. PrimeWay’s lawyer also wrote a letter to Brinks demanding that the company reimburse the credit union’s $92,000.

CU Times contacted PrimeWay to ask whether the dismissal of the case meant the credit union retrieved the $92,000.

A PrimeWay spokesperson said, “What I can tell is that the matter has been resolved.”

Brinks filed an answer to PrimeWay’s lawsuit that denied its allegations and listed 15 lines of legal defenses, including that the credit union failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted, that PrimeWay’s claims are barred in whole or in part by the doctrine of unclean hands, and that PrimeWay’s claims are barred in whole or in part because any loss or damage allegedly suffered by the credit union was caused, in whole or in part, by its own conduct, acts and/or omissions.

Brinks lawyers in Houston did not respond to CU Times‘ request for comment.