Nypl v. JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Background

The court considered whether Plaintiff John Nypl had Article III standing to assert a claim under the California Unfair Competition Law. Article III standing requires a plaintiff to show an actual injury, a connection between that injury and the defendant’s conduct, and a likelihood that a court decision can remedy the injury. A plaintiff must establish standing for each claim.

The claims in this case were limited to injuries connected to transactions involving foreign currency purchased with U.S. dollars and physically received at the defendants’ retail branches within the United States. Nypl was the only plaintiff asserting the California claim.

Evidence Regarding Standing

Defendants pointed to Nypl’s deposition testimony in opposing Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. Nypl testified that he had not taken cash into a bank branch and exchanged it for foreign currency. He also testified that he did not remember going to a bank branch where he had an account and trading currency there, and did not recall exchanging currency at a bank branch in the United States.

The court gave Plaintiffs an additional opportunity to show that Nypl had standing. Plaintiffs did not dispute Defendants’ evidence and did not present evidence showing that Nypl had participated in a transaction covered by the claims. The court found that testimony about an unspecified currency exchange, currency exchanges outside the United States, airport exchanges, ATM transactions, and an exchange by Nypl’s ex-wife did not establish that Nypl had purchased foreign currency with U.S. dollars at a bank branch in the United States.

Rulings

The court held that Nypl had not met his burden of demonstrating standing for the California claim. It rejected Plaintiffs’ argument that supplemental jurisdiction resolved the issue, explaining that supplemental jurisdiction is separate from the threshold question of whether Nypl had standing and whether a case or controversy existed.

The court ordered that the California Unfair Competition Law claim be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because no plaintiff in the action had standing to bring that claim. The court denied Defendants’ request to dismiss Nypl from the case entirely. Under the one-plaintiff rule, the court explained, the case could continue on the remaining claims because Lisa McCarthy and Valarie Jolly had testified that they purchased foreign currency at JPMorgan branches and had demonstrated standing at that stage of the litigation.