A Washington District Court judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought against Washington State Employees Credit Union regarding its overdraft practices, marking one of the first major decisions in a string of at least 17 lawsuits brought against credit unions across the country since September 2015.

In a short, three-page decision issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle stated that too many potential plaintiffs living in the same state triggered an exception to the U.S. Class Action Fairness Act, which means federal courts can't hear the case.

"WSECU has shown that Wodja's claims meet this exception because 90% of the members of the alleged class reside in Washington and WSECU's principal place of business is in Washington. Wodja failed to respond to this argument, which the Court considers as an admission that the argument has merit," the judge wrote. "Moreover, WSECU has sufficiently shown that the Court should decline to exercise jurisdiction over this alleged class action."