Terriann Walker v. People’s United Bank, N.A.

Account credits were issued pursuant to the terms of the class action Settlement Agreement. As long as you did not exclude yourself or “opt out” of the settlement, you were automatically entitled to an award.

The account credit is final and represents the full amount to which you are entitled under the terms of the settlement.

Account credits were issued to current members on September 28, 2020.

Settlement checks were issued pursuant to the terms of the class action Settlement Agreement. As long as you did not exclude yourself or “opt out” of the settlement, you were automatically entitled to an award.

The check is final and represents the full amount to which you are entitled based upon the terms of the settlement.

Please negotiate the check promptly. Checks indicate when they expire, and are not negotiable after this date.

Settlement checks were issued on October 6, 2020.

All reissue requests must be sent in writing to the Settlement Administrator at the address listed below. All requests must include your full name, your return address, and your signature.

Walker v. People’s United Bank Administrator
P.O. Box 3719
Portland, OR 97208-3719

If the name of the Class Member on the check should be changed, please send in documentation, as applicable, according to the following list:

• Name Change – If your name has changed, please provide documentation showing this to be the case, which can include documents such as a marriage certificate or court papers indicative of a name change.
• Name Removal – In order to have a name removed from a check reissue, either have both parties on the check sign a letter and return the check, or return the check with documentation that shows that one party is unable to negotiate the check (i.e. death certificate).
• Deceased Class Member – If the Class Member indicated on the check is deceased, please submit acceptable documentation showing that you are the beneficiary of his or her Estate. Acceptable documentation may be a death certificate, together with the pertinent portion of the Will, or Court Order/Letters Testamentary naming you as Personal Representative, Administrator, Executor, or Executrix.
• Incapacitated Class Member – If the claimant cannot act on his or her own behalf, acceptable documentation is a Power of Attorney, or guardianship or custodial paperwork.
• Closed Business – If you are the legal representative of a business which is no longer active, please include a letter with instructions for the name that should be included on the replacement check, as well as documentation that you may have proving you are authorized to act on behalf of the business. Documentation may include Articles of Incorporation, Articles of Organization, Articles of Dissolution, or any other similar legal documentation that explicitly states the individual is an acting party for the business.

We will review the letter and documentation and will contact you if more information is required.

For reasons of security, a check reissue cannot take place until either the original check is received back by us, a mailing has been returned to us as undeliverable, or until the original stale date of the check has passed or expired.

Because one of these events must occur before we can act on your request, it is not possible for us to provide an estimated date for the reissue to take place. We thank you for your patience.

No. There is no process to dispute the amount of your Settlement Payment, and the deadline to object was March 18, 2020.

The amount of your Settlement Payment is final and represents the amount to which you were entitled under the terms of the Settlement Agreement. The Court approved the Settlement, including the methodology used to compute the amount of Settlement Payments, on June 29, 2020.

For details of how your award was calculated, please see section 8 of the Settlement Agreement.

The lawsuit that has been settled is entitled Terriann Walker v. People’s United Bank, N.A. in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, Case No. 3:17-CV-00304-AVC. The case is a “class action.” That means that the “Named Plaintiff,” Terriann Walker, is an individual who is acting on behalf of two groups:

• The first is all customers of PUB who were charged an overdraft fee for any payment transaction from February 21, 2011 to October 31, 2016, and at the time such fee was imposed, that person had sufficient funds in the ledger balance but not the available balance in his or her account to complete the transaction.
• The second group is all members of PUB who were charged an overdraft fee for a debit card transaction from February 21, 2011, through October 31, 2016. The persons in these groups are collectively called the “Class Members.”

The Named Plaintiff claims PUB improperly charged overdraft fees when members had enough money in the ledger balances but not the available balances of their checking accounts to cover a transaction, and also alleges PUB did not properly opt customers into its overdraft program for debit card payment transactions. The complaint in the action alleged Breach of Opt-In Contract, Breach of Account Agreement, Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, Unjust Enrichment/Restitution, Money Had and Received, Violation of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and Violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. The Named Plaintiff is seeking a refund of alleged improper overdraft fees charged to Class Member accounts. PUB does not deny it charged overdraft fees but contends it did so properly and in accordance with the terms of its agreements and applicable law. PUB maintains that its practice was proper and was disclosed to its customers, and therefore denies that its practices give rise to claims for damages by the Named Plaintiff or any Class Member.

If you received Notice of this lawsuit, it is because PUB’s records indicate that you were charged one or more Eligible Overdraft Fees. The Court directed that Notice be sent to all Class Members because each Class Member had a right to know about the Settlement and the options available to him or her, before the Court granted Final Approval to the Settlement.

A copy of the Notice can be found here.

In any lawsuit, there are risks and potential benefits that come with a trial versus settling at an earlier stage. It is the Named Plaintiff’s lawyers’ job to identify when a proposed Settlement offer is good enough that it justifies recommending settling the case instead of continuing to trial. In a class action, these lawyers, known as Class Counsel, make this recommendation to the Named Plaintiff. The Named Plaintiff has the duty to act in the best interests of the class as a whole and, in this case, it is her belief, as well as Class Counsel’s opinion, that this Settlement is in the best interest of all Class Members for at least the following reasons:

There is legal uncertainty about whether a judge or a jury will find that PUB was contractually and otherwise legally obligated not to assess overdraft fees when the ledger balance was sufficient to pay for a transaction, and even if it was, there is uncertainty about whether the claims are subject to other defenses that might result in no or less recovery to Class Members. Even if the Named Plaintiff were to win at trial, there is no assurance that the Class Members would be awarded more than the current Settlement amount and it may take years of litigation before any payments would be made. By settling, the Class Members will avoid these and other risks and the delays associated with continued litigation.

While PUB disputes the allegations in the lawsuit and denies any liability or wrongdoing, it enters into the Settlement solely to avoid the expense, inconvenience, and distraction of further proceedings in the litigation.

If you received Notice of this lawsuit, then PUB’s records indicate that you are a Class Member who is entitled to receive a payment or credit to your account.

You had three options:

1. do nothing and automatically participate in the Settlement. A payment will be made to you, either by crediting your account if you are still a member of PUB or by mailing a check to you at the last address on file with PUB (or any other address you provide);
2. exclude yourself from the Settlement (“opt out” of it). The deadline to exclude yourself from or “opt out” of the Settlement was February 27, 2020; or
3. participate in the Settlement but object to it. The deadline to file an objection with the Court was March 18, 2020.

Each of these options is described in a separate section below.

PUB has agreed to create a Settlement Fund of $6,500,000. In addition, PUB has agreed to forgive Eligible Overdraft Fees which were assessed but have not been collected from Class Members as of August 28, 2019, and this is estimated to be an additional $900,000 towards the Value of the Settlement.

As discussed separately below, attorneys’ fees, litigation costs, a Service Award to the Named Plaintiff, and the costs paid to a third-party Settlement Administrator to administer the Settlement (including mailing and emailing the Notice) will be paid out of the Settlement Fund. The balance of the Settlement Fund will be divided among all Class Members based on the amount of Eligible Overdraft Fees they paid.

Class Counsel has been awarded attorneys’ fees by the Court equal to one-third of the Value of the Settlement. The Court has also awarded $141,084.88 in litigation costs incurred in prosecuting the case. The Court decided the amount of the attorneys’ fees and costs based on a number of factors, including the risk associated with bringing the case on a contingency basis, the amount of time spent on the case, the amount of costs incurred to prosecute the case, the quality of the work, and the outcome of the case.

Class Counsel, on behalf of the Named Plaintiff, has requested that the Court award her $15,000 for her role in acting as the Named Plaintiff and securing this settlement on behalf of the class. The Court decided the requested Service Award was appropriate.

The Settlement Administrator has agreed to cap its expenses at $142,089.

No. As long as you did not opt out, a credit will be applied to your checking account if you are an existing member, or a check will be mailed to you at the last known address PUB has for you if you are not an existing credit union member. If your address has changed, you should provide your current address to the Settlement Administrator at the address set forth in FAQ 3.

Account credits to active affected accounts were issued September 28, 2020. Checks for closed affected accounts were mailed on October 6, 2020.

The deadline to exclude yourself, or “opt out” of the Settlement was February 27, 2020.

If you opted out of the settlement, you preserved and did not give up any of your rights to sue PUB for the claims alleged in this case. However, you will not be entitled to receive a payment from this settlement.

No. If you excluded yourself, you are not entitled to a payment.

The deadline to object to the Settlement was March 18, 2020.

Objecting is telling the Court that you do not believe the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate for the class, and asking the Court to reject it. You could have objected only if you did not opt out of the settlement. If you objected to the settlement and did not opt out, then you are entitled to a payment, but you will release claims you might have against PUB. Excluding yourself or opting out is telling the Court that you do not want to be part of the settlement, and do not want to receive a payment or release claims you might have against PUB for the claims alleged in this lawsuit.

The deadline to object to the Settlement was March 18, 2020.

The deadline to exclude yourself or “opt out” of the Settlement was February 27, 2020.

The Court granted final approval to the Settlement on June 29, 2020, at the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, 450 Main Street, Courtroom 1, Hartford, Connecticut 06103.

If you did nothing at all, then you received a payment that represents your share of the Settlement Fund net of attorneys’ fees, Settlement Administrator expenses, and the Named Plaintiff’s Service Award. You are considered a part of the class, and you gave up claims against PUB for the conduct alleged in this lawsuit. You have not given up any other claims you might have against PUB that are not part of this lawsuit.

The Court ordered that the lawyers and their law firms referred to in the Notice as “Class Counsel” will represent you and the other Class Members.

Class Counsel
Richard D. McCune McCune Wright Arevalo, LLP 3281 E. Guasti Road, Ste. 100 Ontario, CA 91761  1-909-557-1250  rdm@mccunewright.com	Taras Kick The Kick Law Firm, APC 815 Moraga Drive Los Angeles, CA 90049  1-310-395-2988  Taras@kicklawfirm.com

No. Class Counsel will be paid directly from the Settlement Fund.

Class Counsel filed an application for fees and costs that specified the amount being sought as discussed in FAQ 11. You may review the fee application here or view a physical copy at the Office of the Clerk for the United State District Court for the District of Connecticut. The Court has approved the amount of attorneys’ fees and expenses.

This website only summarizes the settlement. More details are contained in the Settlement Agreement, which can be viewed/obtained here or at the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, located at 450 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06103, by asking for the Court file containing the Motion For Preliminary Approval of Class Settlement (the Settlement Agreement is attached to the motion).

For additional information about the Settlement and/or to obtain copies of the Settlement agreement, or to change your address for purposes of receiving a payment, you should contact the Settlement Administrator as follows:

Walker v. People’s United Bank Administrator
P.O. Box 3719
Portland, OR 97208-3719

For more information, you also can contact the Class Counsel.

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR ANY REPRESENTATIVE OF PUB CONCERNING THE NOTICE OR THE SETTLEMENT.