Dual ATM Fee Notice Requirement Repealed

On Thursday, December 20, 2012, a week after the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 4367, a bill eliminating the requirement that ATM operators post a fee notice on the ATM equipment, President Obama signed the bill into law. Banks, credit unions, and ATM industry groups, many of whom viewed the fee notice requirements as a source of frivolous lawsuits against ATM owners and operators, worked to push the legislation through Congress. While the new law eliminates the requirement that ATM operators post notice of fees on the actual equipment, fee notices are still required to be posted on the ATM screen or provided on a paper noticed issued by the machine. What remains unclear is the effect the new law will have on fee notice lawsuits that were pending prior to the repeal of the old fee notice requirements. The defendants in those pending matters are hopeful that the courts will consider the change in the law in their overall consideration of the cases.