Speedway Gas Stations Face ‘Authorization Hold’ Class Action Lawsuit

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Speedway faces a proposed class action lawsuit stemming over allegations that the gas station chain placed $125 “authorization holds” on customers’ debit or credit card accounts when they paid at the pump.

Plaintiff Kara Teggerdine says she used a check card on Nov. 17 at a Speedway gas station in Florida. She bought $5.01 worth of gas, but her card was temporarily billed “substantially” more, according to the lawsuit.

Teggerdine says later that same day, she went to make another purchase and her card was declined for insufficient funds.

Upon checking on the account transactions, she learned that there had been a charge to her bank card that wiped out the $59.70 in her bank account, leaving her with a zero balance.

Suspecting that her bank card had been breached or hacked, Teggerdine went to her bank for assistance, where she was allegedly told by a bank representative, that the charge had been made by Speedway.

Teggerdine proceeded to contact the Speedway store where she purchased the $5.01 worth of gas to ask if Speedway had made the substantial charge as a hold or if other customers had reported having fraudulent charges made to their cards used to purchase gas.

However, the Speedway store manager reportedly told her that the charge was not part of any Speedway policy, denied the charge was made by the gas station and provided Teggerdine with a number to contact Speedway’s corporate office.

According to the class action lawsuit, when Teggerdine called Speedway’s corporate office, she was informed that Speedway had implemented a new policy effective just the day before to place holds of $125 on the bank accounts of customers making gas purchases.

The Speedway representative allegedly told Teggerdine that the account hold would be released within two hours but this did not occur. The hold did not clear for 48 hours, the lawsuit stated.

“The $125 charge made by Speedway completely wiped out all the money in Plaintiff’s bank account. Because Plaintiff did not have access to the money she had in her bank account, she did not have enough money on hand to make her rent payment,” the lawsuit claims.

The Speedway lawsuit states that the company only notified consumers about the $125 authorization holds beginning Nov. 18 via its Facebook page. Claiming the problems were the result of a new credit card program implemented on Nov. 16, the company said the new program was terminated by the afternoon of Thursday, Nov. 17 after many customers who purchased gas took to social media to complain.

Still, Teggerdine asserts by failing to notify customers in advance or by posting a notice at the pumps, Speedway caused customers financial hardship and other damages by denying them access to their personal funds.

Teggerdine is bringing this proposed nationwide class action against Speedway for “its unauthorized charging of customers using a debit or check card at point-of-sale gas pumps an additional $125 authorization hold regardless of the transaction purchase price and for failing to provide any notice to her and other Class members that the additional sum beyond the state purchase price would be taken from the personal financial accounts and held for an extended period of time.”

She is seeking class action status to represent all U.S. citizens who gassed up at a Speedway using a debit or check card from Nov. 16, 2016 through and including Nov. 17, 2016 and then found a $125 hold placed on their accounts.

Teggerdine is represented by John A. Yanchunis, Marcio W. Valladares, Patrick A. Barthle II of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group; and Jean Sutton Martin of the Law Office of Jean Sutton Martin PLLC.

The Speedway Gas Authorization Hold Class Action Lawsuit is Teggerdine v. Speedway LLC, Case No. 8:16-cv-03280, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.