UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ MICHIGAN FIRST CREDIT UNION, │ Plaintiff-Appellant, │ > No. 23-1952 │ v. │ │ T-MOBILE USA, INC., │ Defendant-Appellee. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit. No. 2:22-cv-13159—Jonathan J.C. Grey, District Judge.

Decided and Filed: July 16, 2024

Before: MOORE, COLE, and MATHIS, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL ON BRIEF: Charles J. Holzman, HOLZMAN LAW, PLLC, Southfield, Michigan, for Appellant. Robert D. Boley, ARENT FOX SCHIFF LLP, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jennifer K. Chung, DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP, Seattle, Washington, James H. Moon, DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP, Los Angeles, California, for Appellee. _________________

OPINION _________________

MATHIS, Circuit Judge. The Electronic Fund Transfer Act (“EFTA”) requires banks, credit unions, and similar financial institutions to reimburse their customers for unauthorized electronic transfers of money from the customers’ accounts. Pursuant to its obligations under the EFTA, Michigan First Credit Union had to reimburse several of its customers for unauthorized electronic fund transfers who were subject to a cellphone scheme. Michigan First now seeks to recover those reimbursed funds from wireless cellular service provider T-Mobile USA, Inc. No. 23-1952 Mich. First Credit Union v. T-Mobile USA, Inc. Page 2

Specifically, Michigan First contends it is entitled to indemnification or contribution from T- Mobile. The district court dismissed Michigan First’s complaint, finding it failed to state a claim for indemnification or contribution under the EFTA or state law. We affirm.

I.

T-Mobile is a wireless telephone carrier with millions of subscribers. Each subscriber’s mobile device is given a subscriber identity module (“SIM”) card with a unique T-Mobile identifier. The SIM card ensures that calls, text messages, and other data are properly routed to the subscriber’s device.

A scam called “SIM Swap” has victimized some T-Mobile subscribers. A SIM Swap occurs when: (1) a scammer contacts T-Mobile and falsely claims that a subscriber’s mobile device was lost, damaged or stolen; (2) the scammer asks T-Mobile to activate a new SIM card associated with the subscriber’s device—when the card is actually located in the scammer’s device; (3) T-Mobile does not properly validate the request and unwittingly activates the new SIM card, thereby giving the scammer access to the subscriber’s data; (4) the scammer takes advantage of this by accessing the subscriber’s private information, including bank details; and (5) the scammer uses these details to make unauthorized financial transactions. After discovering the scam, T-Mobile subscribers often contact their banks to challenge the unauthorized charges. Financial institutions subject to the EFTA must reimburse their customers for unauthorized transactions regardless of fault, except in limited circumstances. 15 U.S.C. § 1693g; see also Merisier v. Bank of Am.,