California Supreme Court Holds Borrowers Can Bring State Law Claims Based on TISA Violations

Bank Compliance TISA

On August 1, the California Supreme Court held that the federal Truth in Savings Act (TISA), which does not provide a private right of action, does not similarly bar state law claims derived from alleged TISA violations. Rose v. Bank of Am., N.A., No. S199074, 2013 WL 3942612 (Cal. Aug. 1, 2013). In this case, a putative class filed suit claiming a bank violated the state’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL) when it failed to provide certain disclosures required by TISA. The trial and appellate courts held that because Congress amended TISA in 2001 to remove its private right of action, before the borrowers filed their TISA-based class claims, those claims were barred. The appellate court explained that Congress’s repeal of the private right of action reflected its intent to bar any private action to enforce TISA. The Supreme Court disagreed and held that Congress’s decision to leave TISA’s savings clause in place explicitly allowed for the enforcement of state laws relating to the disclosures at issue here, except to the extent that those laws are inconsistent with the relevant TISA provision. The court rejected the bank’s argument that the UCL may not be employed to borrow directly from a federal statute where Congress has not provided a private right of action, holding instead that “when Congress permits state law to borrow the requirements of a federal statute, it matters not whether the borrowing is accomplished by specific legislative enactment or by a more general operation of law.” The court reversed the appeals court’s judgment.