A federal district court has ruled for First Florida CreditUnion in an alleged breach of contract dispute involving anoverdraft privilege program from John M. Floyd & AssociatesInc.

According to the judgment, JM Floyd in Baytown, Texas, sued the $407 million First Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., for approximately$200,000. The contract at issue was for an original period of 24months yet after First Florida made the 24th monthly payment to JMFloyd, it received notice from the firm that the contract had notyet expired and that additional payments were stilldue.

In the suit, JM Floyd alleged that the terms of the contractautomatically renewed for an additional 24 months as the result ofFirst Florida's 2007 merger with Seaboard Credit Union.

Jake Kiker, an attorney with Williams Gautier Litigation Groupwho represented First Florida, said the credit union fullyperformed under the contract, and there was no entitlement underthe terms for the additional compensation being claimed by JMFloyd.

After several months of motion practice and discovery includingdepositions, the credit union and JM Floyd both moved for summaryfinal judgment.

On March 14, 2011, the U.S. District Court, Middle District ofFlorida in Jacksonville ruled in favor of First Florida on allclaims “making specific legal findings that the contract at issuewas not ambiguous, that the interpretation being offered by JMFloyd was not reasonable, and that FFCU had fully performed and didnot breach the contract,” Kiker said.

JM Floyd subsequently engaged special appellate counsel based inPennsylvania and appealed the federal district court's entry ofjudgment in favor of First Florida to the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe Eleventh Circuit.

On Oct. 3, 2011, the appeals court affirmed and upheld thefederal district court's judgment in favor of First Florida, Kikersaid.

The only outstanding claim that remains in the lawsuit is thecourt's ruling regarding the award of attorneys' fees and costs infavor of First Florida to be paid by JM Floyd under the terms ofthe contract, according to Kiker.

“FFCU was prepared, had kept and maintained good records,” Kikersaid.

A comment from JM Floyd was not immediately available.