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Nearly 800,000 California and Pennsylvania residents may be eligible to participate in a class action lawsuit settlement involving two debt-collection companies that allegedly forced consumers into paying for “Financial Accountability” classes as part of a Bad Check Restitution Program. If approved, Class Members will receive $75 cash from the $3 million class action settlement.
Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit accuse American Corrective Counseling Services (ACCS) and National Corrective Group (NCG), which operates as Corrective Solutions, of violating various laws by making false and misleading statements and seeking and collecting fees unauthorized by law when carrying out bad check diversion programs in the names of district attorneys.
According to the Corrective Solutions class action lawsuit, ACCS and NCG would mail notices, printed on local DA’s letterhead stationery, ordering consumers who wrote checks with insufficient funds to pay hundreds of dollars to attend a “Financial Accountability” class. Consumers who didn’t pay the fee and attend the class were threatened with criminal prosecution.
American Corrective Counseling Services and National Corrective Group deny the allegations but have agreed to a $3 million class action lawsuit settlement to resolve the litigation.
Class Members of the ACCS, NCG class action lawsuit settlement include anyone who received a District Attorney Bad Check Restitution Program Notice in California between January 4, 2006 and August 31, 2011 or in Pennsylvania between January 25, 2004 and August 31, 2011, which was printed on letterhead stationary from one of the District Attorneys listed on the Settlement Website: www.SmithSettlement.com.
Class Members that submit a valid Claim Form no later than February 14, 2013 will receive $75 cash from the class action lawsuit settlement. This amount may be higher or lower, depending on how many people file valid Claims.
Claim Forms and more information on your rights in the Corrective Solutions District Attorney Bad Check Restitution Program Class Action Settlement can be found at www.SmithSettlement.com.
The case is Smith v. National Corrective Group, Inc., Case No. 10-cv-0010 JSW, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.
UPDATE 12/24/13: The class action settlement was rejected in December 2012 for being “problematic.” The Settlement website has been taken down, so no updates are available.
UPDATE 6/20/14:An amended class action settlement agreement was entered in August 2013, was granted final approval on May 5, 2014, and became effective May 6, 2014. Payments are expected to be mailed to Class Members in late July 2014, according to the Settlement Administrator. Settlement Class Members who received notice of the DA Bad Check Restitution Program Class Action Settlement will automatically receive payment. Those who did not receive a notice had to submit a claim by April 1, 2014 to participate. If you receive a check, let us know!
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200 thoughts onDA Bad Check Restitution Program Class Action Settlement
I’m in PA AND GOT A CHECK LAST WEEK for $6.53. I feel I am owed much more. I hope everyone knows that when you cash it or deposit it, that means “acceptance”, and you won’t be eligible for any future payments should they ever be forced to up the ante! But if the case is truly CLOSED, then that is that. Any attys on here that can look a little deeper into this case? Thank you!
I received one check for $2.04 in PA. And my name is spelled wrong on it. I am going to at least make them send me another check with the correct name on it. You will probably all get charged for the postage…so deduct 49 cents……
I received 2 checks also in the amount of $6.53 each I also live in PA.
I got a check the other day for 6.53 , I did not even know what it was for , I do now .Im pretty pissed off to find out all that crap that I through , the money I spent , and the harassment . what a nightmare . Im not going to cash it , but I will look into getting everthing that is owed to me ,Word to the wise , DO NOT CASH YOUR CHECK
I received 3 whole checks in the amount of $2.04 each. Seriously, what am i suppose to do with that ? It’s not even worth going through the embarrassment of depositing them. I also think something went wrong here.
BTW if a large number of claimants don’t cash their check where does that money go? If 50,000 didn’t cash their checks that would put $300,000 back in the kitty. What happenes to THAT money?
Someone needs to request an audit of the payout. $3,000,000 is not a really big payout anyway. The Lawyers typically take 25-33% of class action suits. But sometimes they are paid separately by the defendant. If the lawyers took both funds from the settlement AND were paid by the defendant that constitutes fraud on the part of the legal team. An audit must be provided to the courts if demanded. I would look into the payouts unfortunately once you cash a check it is an indication that you are satisfied with that payment. The checks issued by Smith Settlement Admin. are void after 90days. So if you feel cheated you need to investigate before you cash the check and then you can bring a suit against Smith even criminal charges can be filed if it looks like fraud. In that case you would be due the settlement money and you could get “pain and suffering” pay out from sueing Smith… IF the audit finds wrong doing. Read on……………
Class action lawyers usually are paid from the fund recovered from the class. Increasingly they are paid a percentage of the money they recover. This percentage may vary but it can be from 25 percent to 33 percent of the fund. The fees may also be based on the amount of time the lawyers spent on the case and the quality of the result they obtained. This is called the lodestar method of calculating attorneys’ fees.
Sometimes lawyers are paid not from the fund received for the class but by the defendant. There must be what’s called a fee-shifting statute for this to happen. It is normally the case in American justice that each party pays its own legal fees. Some laws however make the defendant pay the plaintiff’s fees if the defendant has broken the law. Example of such laws include some consumer protection statutes and labor and employment laws.
I JUST RECEIVED A BUNCH OF POST CARDS I ALMOST THROW AWAY TO I OPEN ONE OF THEM AND I GOT $73.00 I OPEN THE NEXT ONE $73.00 AGAIN, I GOT SEVEN CHECKS FOR $73.00 AND ONE CHECK $6.53 AND THE LAST CHECK WAS $2.04 ,SO I GOT NINE CHECKS. WOW .
THANK YOU.
Well all I can say is enjoy all your monies. Most of us got screwed and I can now see why. Really 5 checks at $73!!!!
From california, received my check for $6.53. Didn’t believe the check was real till I saw all your comments.
Yes it’s two checks.. If you paid a fee you get 6.54 and 2.04 or another 6.54 I guess it’s that amount if you paid them off.. If you only got letters then that’s a 2.04 only