A proposed $3.8 million would be paid to former jail inmates across the country who faced extra fees and charges added after their confiscated money was returned to them on debit cards.
A mediator helped reach the proposed settlement in the class-action case, which had been set for trial in Portland in October.
The national class includes former incarcerated people who did not request but received a fee-bearing debit card provided by the company Stored Value Cards, also known as Numi Financial, and its partner bank, Central National Bank and Trust Co., after their release from from jail or prison. The cards typically had the amount of money that had been confiscated from them when they entered jail or the amount left on their books before their release from jail.
Danica L. Brown, who was arrested in Portland during a 2014 protest and was the named plaintiff in the case, said the jail confiscated $30.97 in cash from her when she was arrested. Upon her release, she was handed a Numi Financial MasterCard debit card.
The card was loaded with the same amount originally confiscated, but Brown soon learned the card came with service fees: A $5.95 monthly maintenance charge was subtracted five days after she got the card and then she was charged 95 cents for a declined transaction because of insufficient funds. In total, she lost 22%, or $6.97, of the card’s value.
Brown wasn’t convicted of any charges in her case and sued Numi Financial on behalf of all released inmates who have had to pay fees on the cards.
The case initially was thrown out by U.S. District judge but revived by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The federal appellate court ruled in 2020 that “Numi is entitled to fair compensation for its services, but that does not mean that it should be able without restriction to provide cards to released inmates who have not asked for them and who are likely to end up with less money than was taken from them.”
Once the case returned to the U.S. District Court in Portland, a national class was certified in July.
Under the proposed settlement that now awaits a judge’s approval, Central National Bank and Trust Co. will pay $2.8 million and Numi would pay $1 million.
During mediation, Numi informed attorneys involved in the case that it was in the process of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and offered to pay $1 million in semi-annual payments of $100,000 over five years.
Lawyers for the class of plaintiffs who sued said the settlement is conditional upon receiving “sufficient information” about Numi’s financial condition, including cash flow, operating expenses and outstanding debt owed. If they’re not satisfied that Numi cannot pay more, lawyers for the plaintiffs can reject the proposed settlement, according to court records.
“We’re not just going to take that at face value,” said Chris Youtz, one of the attorneys for the plaintiff and the certified class.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman certified the national class as people taken into custody at a jail, correctional facility, detainment center or any other law enforcement facility within the United States, who were entitled to the return of money confiscated from them or remaining in their inmate accounts when they were released from custody and who had their funds returned through a debit card provided by Stored Value Cards or its partner Central National Bank and Trust Co., and incurred extra fees or charges despite never having requested nor applied for a debit card. To be eligible for the settlement money, fees must have been incurred within a year before Brown filed her suit on July 22, 2015, through the approval of the settlement.
Numi said it began to provide services in Multnomah County in 2014, offering a prepaid debit card to people who had been released from jail. Asked what Numi collected annually from people who were issued the debit cards in Multnomah County, it gave as its gross revenue $43,401.61 in 2015 and $24,860.48 in 2014 in the county, according to court records. It also has provided prepaid debit card services in Curry, Columbia and Lincoln counties in Oregon, according to court documents.
Numi also said that it has changed its procedures for issuing debit release cards by requiring recipients to first sign a form stating that they “requested” the release card for the return of their money.
Youtz, however, contends that Numi has changed little in practice by simply requiring a prisoner to sign a form to obtain their money back on a debit card. People who transfer from one jail to another can receive their money on a check, but Numi or the jails don’t provide checks for people released from custody, he said.
He said he doesn’t yet know the exact number of people affected under the class-action suit, but expects it will be substantial.
He was involved in a similar national class-action case filed in federal court in Tacoma against a different release card company that resulted in a recent $11.6 million settlement approved in December. In that case against Rapid Financial Solutions and Cache Valley Bank, there were 800,000 members of the class identified. Each received about three times the amount of fees charged plus $15, he said.
Once a judge approves the settlement in the Portland class-action case, attorneys involved will send out notices to potential class members and set up a website for filing claims, but that’s not likely to occur for a few months, he said.
-- Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com, follow her on X @maxoregonian or on LinkedIn.
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