Heartland Bank and Keybank's Motion to Dismiss
As we reported in January, a handful of issuing banks had filed suit against two merchant banks (Heartland Bank and Keybank) for alleged losses (e.g. reissuance and fraud costs) they suffered due to the 2009 Heartland Payment Systems breach.
The general thrust of the class action compliant is that the merchant banks should be liable for the acts and errors of the payment processor they contracted with to process payments on their behalf. The complaint set forth a series of complex legal theories (3rd party beneficiary theory, negligence), some of which had been attempted in other litigation, and some new theories of liability such as breach of fiduciary duty and vicarious liability.
Each merchant bank has now filed a motion to dismiss the issuing banks' complaint. We have obtained copies of the motion and corresponding briefs.
The following motions and briefs were filed in this matter:
- Keybank's Reply Brief (in support of its motion)
- Heartland Bank's Reply Brief (in support of its motion).
As you can see (if you click on the links above) the motions and briefs are quite voluminous and complex. We will pass on trying to summarize all these arguments and instead will keep you posted on the Court's ruling when it comes out. All the briefs appear to be filed (the last one was filed on June 7th), so it is probable that an oral argument will be scheduled (if it has not been already) and we should get an opinion shortly after that argument. Stay tuned.