ATM fees upheld

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Tuesday, May 27, 2003 | 10:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and other banks can keep charging non-customers to use automatic-teller machines in two California cities, after the U.S. Supreme Court today denied the cities' appeal.

The court refused to hear arguments by San Francisco and Santa Monica that they had the authority to bar the ATM fees. The banks and an industry trade group won a lower court decision throwing out the prohibitions on grounds they conflict with federal banking rules.

Congress intended "to preserve state and local consumer protection laws relating to ATM surcharges," lawyers for San Francisco and Santa Monica said in court papers filed in Washington.