Perdue v. Crocker Nat'l Bank
Supreme Court of California
702 P.2d 503 (1985)
Perdue (plaintiff) brought a class action on behalf of checking-account customers of Crocker National Bank (defendant) who were charged $6 for each check they wrote without sufficient funds (an NSF charge), even though Perdue alleged the bank's actual processing cost per check was only about $0.30 — a roughly 2,000% markup. Customers had signed a signature card containing fine six-point-font language binding them to the bank's present and future rules and charges, without ever being given a copy of those rules. Perdue sought a declaration that the signature card wasn't a real contract and that the NSF charge was unconscionable; the trial court dismissed the complaint, and Perdue appealed.
Whether a court may refuse to enforce a clause of a contract, such as a bank's NSF check fee, on the ground that it is unconscionable.