266
Opinion of the Court
Robert G. Epsteen argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Alan H. Zenoff and A. J. Zenoff.*
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. This case concerns the Expedited Funds Availability Act, 12 U. S. C. §§ 4001-4010, a 1987 law designed to accelerate the availability of funds to bank depositors and to improve the Nation's check payment system. We confront a jurisdictional question regarding the Act's civil liability provisions, in particular §§ 4010(a), (d), and (f): Is federal-court subject-matter jurisdiction under those provisions confined to suits initiated by bank customers against banks, as the Court of Appeals held, or do federal courts have jurisdiction, as well, over suits brought by one bank against another depository institution? We hold that the Act provides for federal-court jurisdiction not only in suits between customers and banks, but also in cases initiated by one bank against another bank.
I
Historically, the Nation's check payment system has been controlled primarily by state law, particularly, in recent decades, by articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). Although federal regulations have long supplemented state law in this area, see most notably Regulation J, 12 CFR pt. 210 (1995), the UCC has supplied the basic legal framework for bank deposits and check collections. But despite UCC controls, the check-clearing process too often lagged, taking days or even weeks to complete. To protect themselves against the risk that a deposited check would be returned unpaid, banks typically placed lengthy "holds" on deposited funds. Bank customers, encountering long holds, complained that delayed access to deposited funds
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the Electronic Check Clearing House Organization by Robert G. Ballen, Gilbert T. Schwartz, and Dina J. Moskowitz; and for the New York Clearing House Association by Philip L. Graham, Jr., and Norman R. Nelson.
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007