Absurdity at the ATM

The uncommon animal of an “absurd result” was not only sighted, but used as the basis for reversing summary judgment, in Star Financial Services v. Cardtronics USA, a dispute about the obligation to update account information associated with an ATM network. The Court reasoned: “R]eading the Contract to not impose an obligation upon Cardtronics to use correct account information after receiving updated Terminal Set-Up Forms leads to the absurd consequence that Star Financial can never make effective changes to a Terminal Set-Up Form despite an explicit provision to the contrary. Cardtronic’s obligation to deploy account information in an updated Terminal Set-Up Form is implicit in the contractual process for updating a Terminal Set-Up Form.” No. 17-30258 (Feb. 2, 2018).