Cantero v. Bank of America, N.A.

In this case, plaintiff Alex Cantero sued Bank of America for failing to pay interest on his mortgage escrow account, as required by New York law. The bank argued that the National Bank Act preempts the state law, and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed, adopting a broad standard under which all state laws that “exert control” over a national bank’s exercise of a federal banking power are preempted, regardless of whether the state law has a significant effect on the bank’s exercise of that power. The plaintiff filed a petition for certiorari, and the Supreme Court granted review.

In an amicus brief on behalf of Public Citizen, Consumer Federation of America, National Association of Consumer Advocates, National Consumer Law Center, and Public Justice, we explained that the Second Circuit’s sweeping standard for preemption is contrary to the standard for preemption of state consumer financial laws codified by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Act and that broad preemption of state consumer financial laws harms consumers.