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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Umpqua Bank Overdraft Action Won’t See Trial

(CN) - As their trial date approached, a class has settled claims that Umpqua Bank uses special software to maximize the amount of overdraft fees it charges.

The parties have until May 19 to move for preliminary approval of the settlement, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar said in a Friday order vacating the trial schedule.

"The court is in receipt of the parties' joint request to vacate the case schedule in light of the parties' settlement of this action," he wrote.

Lead plaintiff Amber Hawthorne filed the federal complaint in San Francisco in December 2011, alleging that Umpqua employs sophisticated software that "maximizes the number of overdrafts, and thus, the amount of overdraft fees charged per customer."

She also called Umpqua's account agreement misleading and said the bank "provides inaccurate balance information to its customers through its electronic network," informing them "that they have a positive balance when, in reality, they have a negative balance, despite the bank's actual knowledge of outstanding debits and transactions."

Tigar had pared down the claims for trial this past November, and the parties settled after Hawthorne filed a third amended complaint in January.

"The court sets a case management conference on May 28, 2014, which will automatically be vacated if the stipulation of dismissal is timely filed," he wrote.

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