NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION AND PROPOSED SETTLEMENT, SETTLEMENT HEARING, AND MOTIONS BY CLASS COUNSEL FOR AWARD OF CLASS COUNSEL FEES AND BY CLASS REPRESENTATIVES FOR SERVICE AWARDS
The Supreme Court of the State of New York authorized this Settlement Website. The proposed settlement may affect your legal rights. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.
You are not being sued.
A CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT HAS BEEN PROPOSED TO:
a) All individual account holders of Bank of America, N.A. (“BANA”) who, during the period between January 1, 2009 and February 17, 2023, had their accounts restrained pursuant to the provisions of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules in violation, in whole or in part, of the Exempt Income Protection Act and whose accounts have not been applied by a sheriff or receiver to the satisfaction of a judgment (the “5239 Class”).
b) All individual account holders of BANA who, during the period between January 1, 2009 and February 17, 2023, had their accounts restrained and/or levied upon pursuant to the provisions of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules in violation, in whole or in part, of the Exempt Income Protection Act. (the “5240 Class,” together with the 5239 Class, the “Class Members”). The proposed settlement may affect your legal rights.
PURPOSE OF THIS SETTLEMENT WEBSITE: The Notices are being distributed to all relevant account holders of BANA whose accounts were restrained to notify the members of the affected classes of a proposed settlement of the lawsuit.
You may be eligible to receive money from a class action lawsuit (“Action”) against BANA for alleged violations of New York’s Exempt Income Protection Act (“EIPA”).
In the lawsuit, Petitioners claim that BANA charged fees on accounts subject to attachment or garnishment under the laws of the State of New York in a manner that violated EIPA, which protects certain minimum amounts in accountholder’s checking and/or savings accounts. Petitioners in this Action allege that BANA improperly aggregated judgment debtors’ accounts and then used that total to calculate the exempt amounts from restraint, instead of calculating the exempt amount on a per account basis. Petitioners further allege that instead of making exempt funds available in judgment debtors’ accounts, BANA would send a certified check, by regular mail, to judgment debtors for their exempt funds, meaning Class Members could not use the exempt funds in their bank account to pay their expenses. Petitioners further allege that BANA should not have charged restraint fees as a result. BANA expressly denies that it violated EIPA in any way.
Petitioners, on behalf of themselves and the Certified Classes, negotiated a proposed settlement with BANA of the Action (“Settlement”) on the terms stated in the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement dated February 29, 2024 (“Agreement”). This Settlement provides for compensation to eligible Class Members for certain fees that were allegedly improperly charged by BANA to accountholders whose accounts were attached or garnished by creditors. As a result of this Action, on or about August, 2017, BANA changed this practice and no longer aggregates accounts and applies exemptions on a per account basis. Moreover, as a result of this lawsuit, on or about February, 2023, BANA changed this practice and now allows Class Members and future judgment debtors to access exempt funds in their bank accounts. The Court, has preliminarily approved the Settlement for purpose of providing notice to the Class Members pending final approval. The Court also approved the appointment of Kroll Settlement Administration LLC to serve as the settlement administrator (“Settlement Administrator”). The Court has already certified the classes, Petitioners as Class Representatives, and Petitioners’ counsel as Class Counsel.
The Court has scheduled a hearing (“Settlement Hearing”) for June 18, 2025 at 9:30 a.m. ET to determine, among other things, whether to approve the Settlement and to grant Class Counsel’s request for Class Counsel Fees and the Class Representatives’ request for a Service Award.
LEGAL RIGHTS AND OPTIONS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Do Nothing | If you do nothing, it will be deemed that you have accepted the terms of the Settlement Agreement and to be bound by it. This includes releasing your claims against BANA. If the Settlement is approved by the Court, you will receive your pro-rata Settlement distribution from the Settlement Administrator. | Not Applicable |
| Request to be Excluded | You may exclude yourself from the Class and keep your right, if any, to sue BANA for the claims asserted in the Action at your own expense. If you exclude yourself, you will not receive any Settlement payment and you will not be bound by the terms of the Settlement Agreement, if approved by the Court. You must submit a written request for exclusion request by mail to the Settlement Administrator postmarked no later than May 19, 2025. | Postmarked no later than May 19, 2025 |
| Object to the Settlement | If you do not exclude yourself from the Class, then you may object to the Settlement or to Class Counsel’s or the Class Representatives’ requests for Class Counsel Fees or a Service Award, respectively. You also may appear at the Settlement Hearing to present your objections. | Postmarked no later than May 19, 2025 |
If the Court does not approve the Settlement, then the Action will proceed as if the Settlement had never been proposed and Petitioners will, among other things, have to prove their claims against BANA at trial.