DES MOINES, Iowa -U.S. District Court Judge Ronald E. Longstaff has denied the state of Iowa's request to dismiss a lawsuit over Iowa's ban on automated teller machine surcharges filed by five national banks – Metrobank, Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America, Firstar Bank and U.S. Bank. Filed by the defendant Iowa Division of Banking Superintendent Holmes Foster, the motion argued that the case should be heard in state courts rather than the federal court system, and since none of the five banks had surcharged at ATMs in Iowa the suit should be dismissed. According to Longstaff, a U.S. Circuit Court ruling in a 1999 Bank One case made it clear that Congress believes that states cannot supercede federal rules concerning the way national banks administer their ATM systems, so it is reasonable to have the current case heard in U.S. District Court. Claiming the state's surcharge ban is unconstitutional, the banks filed the lawsuit last spring. Iowa is the only state with an ATM surcharge ban. [email protected]