Class Action Settlement Money on the Way to Bad Check Restitution Program Participants

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Potentially hundreds of thousands of California and Pennsylvania residents will be receiving checks in the mail this summer as part of a $3.2 million 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.

The class action settlement checks are expected to arrive in late July and could potentially be worth up to $75 unless they’re reduced pro rata based on the number of valid claims filed.

The class action lawsuit accused 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 illegally collecting fees 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.

The defendants denied the allegations but agreed to a class action lawsuit settlement in 2012. The deal was rejected later that year for being “problematic” but was amended in August 2013 and granted approval on May 5, 2014.

Settlement Class Members included anyone who received a District Attorney Bad Check Restitution Program Notice in California between Jan. 4, 2006 and Aug. 31, 2011 or in Pennsylvania between Jan. 25, 2004 and Aug. 31, 2011, which was printed on letterhead stationary from one of the District Attorneys listed on the Settlement Website: www.SmithSettlement.com.

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.

The case is Smith v. National Corrective Group, Inc., Case No. 10-cv-0010 JSW, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.