A $3 million class action settlement has been proposed in Smith v. NCG Class Action Settlement. This lawsuit revolves around claims that American Corrective Counseling Services and National Corrective Group forced California and Pennsylvania residents into paying for “Financial Accountability” in relation to a bad check program. ACCS and NCG would mail notices to customers who wrote bad checks to attend a “Financial Accountability” class at a costly fee. Customers who didn’t pay class fee were threatened with criminal prosecution. The case is in the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and is case number 3:10-CV-0010 JSW. If you or someone you know received a notice from a bad check restitution program associated with the defendants between January 25, 2004 and August 31, 2011 you might be a class member of this lawsuit and might be entitled to a settlement payment. Class Members will receive $75 cash pending the fairness hearing. The final approval hearing is set for November 16, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. on November 16, 2012 in Courtroom 11, 19th Floor. The courthouse can be found at 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California 94102. Class member are NOT required to attend in order to obtain a settlement pay out.
All claim forms are due by February 14, 2013. A class member can find the claim form at SmithSettlement.com. The form can be printed and then mailed to: Smith Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 2748, Faribault, MN. 55021-9748. Class members will be represented by Michael D. Donovan, Donald Driscoll, James C. Sturdevant and Jonathan A. Lang. Please do not contact the court or the defendants about the case, all questions should be directed to the Settlement Administrator toll-free at 1-866-403-6561. A class member may also submit the claim online. Under the current settlement terms class members will only get one settlement payment no matter how many notices they received or payments they made during the time period. It should be noted that American Corrective Counseling Services and National Corrective Group deny all actions of wrong doing in the lawsuit but have agreed to settlement terms.
