Regulation E compliance on credit union ATM fee disclosure hasapparently spawned a flurry of class action suits against CUs, CUNAMutual Group reported Thursday.

Likened to "ambulance chasers" which seek out personal injuryclients, a handful of law firms, which were not identified, havebrought a surprising 12 suits filed since mid-December against CUs,many alleging failure to abide by signage rules.

Of the recent cases, a number have been settled with no dollaramount listed, said Ken Otsuka, senior analyst-risk management, indetailing the class action trend.

CUs must state on ATM signs, he said, that fees are attached,but there is no need to actually state the amount of the fee, whichhas been the source of the lawsuits.

"We've found some credit unions failed to change the amounts onsigns or some credit unions in remote shared locations were notproperly serviced," said Otsuka of CUNA Mutual's Credit UnionProtection Claims Division.

In a memo sent to state leagues this week, Otsuka wrote that RegE requirements for disclosing ATM fees "has triggered a significantrisk concern for credit unions" with lawsuits filed allegingviolation of section 205.16 of the regulation, "which applies whena consumer initiates an electronic funds transfer or a balanceinquiry at an ATM owned or operated by an institution that does nothold the account to or from which the transfer is made, or aboutwhich an inquiry is made."

CUNA Mutual said there are currently 35 of the lawsuits now openover the past several months with two or three law firms identifiedas lead plaintiffs.

"When credit unions charge a fee to a consumer using anon-credit union ATM network card or debit card, the regulationrequires posting a sign in a prominent and conspicuous location onor at every ATM owned or operated by the credit union stating thata fee will or may apply," the statement said.

That means disclosing the fee on the terminal screen or on papernotice before the consumer is committed to paying the fee "but itis not necessary to include the amount of the fee on the sign,"said Otuska, adding the class actions represent a fledgling cottageindustry of law firms going after CUs "like ambulance chasers."