Gregory M. Thompson
NEW ORLEANS – A St. Tammany man is suing a local credit union for allegedly humiliating him and allowing its security officer to hurt him in a dispute arising over his attempts to cash a check.
Dewayne Curney filed suit against Allegiance Security Group, LLC, ASI Federal Credit Union and Jimmie Coats, Jr. in the Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Sept. 28. Curney claims he visited ASI Federal Credit Union branch located at 3221 Behrman Place in New Orleans to cash a check and was told that he could not do so because he had an outstanding debt on an old account.
The plaintiff alleges that he told the teller the outstanding debt had been settled, whereafter the employee still refused to cash the check and also allegedly refused to return the plaintiff's check and driver's license.
Curney alleges that he spoke to the manager who supported the teller's actions and had the security guard, Jimmie Coats, Jr., remove him forcibly from the premises by restraining him and picking him up and throwing him out of the building. The plaintiff asserts that he called the police after being removed from the building who retrieved his driver's license and the check, which had been stamped so that it could not be cashed. Curney also alleges that ASI employees told the police that he was trying to pass a fraudulent check at which time the police allegedly contacted the check issuer who vouched for its authenticity.
The defendant is accused of causing personal injury to the plaintiff.
An unspecified amount in damages is sought for soft tissue damage, severe emotional distress, inflamed rotator cuff, persistent pain, exposure to public ridicule and humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, lost or diminished reputation, mental anguish and invasion of privacy.
Curney is represented by Gregory M. Thompson of New Orleans-based Guillory, Johnson, Phillips & Thompson.
The case has been assigned to Division H Judge Michael G. Bagneris.
Case no. 2012-09209.