Crestar Bank, N.A. v. Cheevers
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
744 A.2d 1043 (2000)
After Crestar Bank (plaintiff) blocked Cheevers's (defendant) credit card account for delinquency, someone used the account to purchase over $3,400 in Amtrak tickets from an automated machine; Cheevers never received the resulting bills and only learned of the charges and Crestar's lawsuit against him after later contacting the bank to pay off his account, at which point he immediately disputed the Amtrak charges as unauthorized. Crestar argued Cheevers's failure to timely dispute the charges under the Fair Credit Billing Act barred his defense; the trial court ruled for Cheevers, and Crestar appealed.
Whether a credit cardholder is required to notify a creditor of disputed charges before invoking federal protections against liability for unauthorized charges.