On June 21, the California Supreme Court held that the National Bank Act (NBA) preempts California Civil Code section 1748.9, which requires that certain disclosures accompany preprinted checks provided by a credit card issuer to its cardholders. Parks v. MBNA Am. Bank, N.A., No. S183703, 2012 WL 2345006 (Cal. June 21, 2012). In a unanimous decision, the court concluded that the NBA preempts section 1748.9 because the law is an obstacle to the broad grant of power given to national banks to conduct the business of banking. The court held that the specific disclosure obligations imposed by section 1748.9, including precise language and placement of the disclosures, exceeded any federal law requirements. In addition, the court recognized that the NBA was intended to prevent banks from complying with a patchwork of local disclosure requirements like section 1748.9.
