Stout provided financial expert assistance involving the administration of the settlement of class action matters. We identified the population of eligible class members and the amount of settlement funds allocable to each member.

In a typical case, a federal credit union was sued by a group of its members over allegations of improperly levied overdraft fees. The claim involved the credit union charging its members multiple overdraft fees on a single declined transaction in instances where the merchant attempted to process the transaction more than one time (a “multiple presentment” claim).

Additionally, the members claimed that the credit union improperly charged overdraft fees on transactions when, at the time of authorization, the member had a sufficient balance to cover the amount of the transaction, but at the time of settlement, the member had an insufficient balance (an “authorize positive settle negative” claim).

Our Role: The defendants engaged Stout to identify every eligible class member across the seven-year damage period under the class action settlement agreement, and to calculate each class member’s pro rata share of the agreed-upon settlement award.

We analyzed the credit union’s customer transaction data from its core financial data system to identify each occurrence of an eligible overdraft fee defined in the settlement agreement. We then aggregated and summarized the identified overdraft fees for each class member and calculated their pro rata share of the settlement award.

Outcome: We provided a detailed class list with the number and amount of eligible overdraft fees and the pro rata share of the settlement award for each class member. We also coordinated with the credit union and settlement administrator to assist them in compiling the relevant contact information for class members for purposes of distributing outreach materials to class members.