U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Watford rest stop

The justices ruled 6-3 in favor of a western North Dakota truck stop seeking to sue over a debit card swipe fee rule that a federal appeals court in Washington upheld 10 years ago.

Federal law provides a six-year period for generally challenging regulations. In this case, Federal Reserve regulations governing the fees merchants must pay to banks when customers use a debit card took effect in 2011.

The deadline for lawsuits regarding the settlement was in 2017.

Corner Post, a truck stop in Watford City, only opened in 2018. Yet a federal appeals court dismissed the challenge as too late.

The company appealed to the Supreme Court. The Biden administration had urged the Court to uphold the dismissal because otherwise government agencies would be subject to endless challenges.

This decision could take on a new dimension after last week which overturned the 1984 decision concerning Chevron, which had facilitated compliance with regulations in a large part of American life. The Supreme Court also deprived the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of a major tool in the fight against securities fraud.

Chief Justice John Roberts captured the dilemma facing the court when debating the Corner Post case in February. Agencies might face repeated challenges of “10 years later, 20 years later” and “having to kind of create the universe, you know, repeatedly.”

On the other hand, Roberts said, “You have an individual or an entity that is harmed by something the government is doing, and you say, well, that’s just too bad, there’s nothing you can do about it because than other people I had six years to do something.

The legal principle that everyone is entitled to their day in court, Roberts said, “doesn’t say unless somebody else has had a day in court.”