In re: Bank of America California Unemployment Benefits Litigation — S.D. Cal., No. 21-md-02992

Case summary

This page holds the docket of a consolidated multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, In re: Bank of America California Unemployment Benefits Litigation, Case No. 3:21-md-02992, now before Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel. The Master Consolidated Complaint of August 17, 2021 is brought by recipients of California benefits paid through debit cards issued by Bank of America, N.A., and pleads violations of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1693 et seq., and Regulation E, 12 C.F.R. Part 1005, violations of the Due Process Clauses of the U.S. and California Constitutions, breach of contract, negligence and other state claims. The court granted in part and denied in part the bank's motion to dismiss on May 25, 2023. Partial summary judgment briefing was heard in 2026.

Case at a glance

What do the plaintiffs allege?

That Californians whose benefits are or were paid through Bank of America debit cards suffered unauthorized transactions and inadequate claims handling. In 2021 the district court in the Yick member case found on a preliminary injunction that the plaintiffs had shown a strong likelihood of success on their EFTA, Unfair Competition Law and breach of contract claims and provisionally certified a Rule 23(b)(2) class.

What is Bank of America's role?

Under a contract with the California Employment Development Department, first entered in 2010 and later extended, the bank provides electronic benefits payment services for the state agency. A copy of the agreement in the record records a term from August 1, 2016 through July 31, 2021, with options to renew, at no cost to the EDD.

What has the court decided so far?

It granted in part and denied in part the bank's motion to dismiss the Master Consolidated Complaint on May 25, 2023, granted in part and denied in part the bank's request for judicial notice and granted the plaintiffs' request for judicial notice. Later filings on the docket are summary judgment papers, some filed provisionally under seal.

Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.