Rash Curtis & Associates is a collections agency that specializes in recovering revenue for private companies, healthcare providers, and government agencies. As per the company’s website, the collector handles more than $130 million in placements every year. A $75.6 million class-action lawsuit has been filed against Rash Curtis blaming the company for violating the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) with wrong-number calls in pursuit of its debt collections.
This class-action lawsuit was filed by the plaintiffs in 2016 accusing the company of using an auto-dialer to place excessive pre-recorded and wrong-number calls without the prior consent of customers. One plaintiff has complained of receiving 45 calls from Rash Curtis without her consent. Plaintiffs have alleged Rash Curtis of violating TCPA which is a federal law protecting consumers from unsolicited robocalls. According to this law, companies like Rash Curtis need to get either express or written consent from customers before placing automated calls through auto-dialer and similar telemarketing technology. Noncompliance with this law can result in penalties ranging up to $1500 for each violation.
A jury found the company liable for violating TCPA in a May 2019 trial and ordered them to pay $250 million to the plaintiffs for making 534,698 calls in violation of the TCPA. However, the plaintiffs did not agree to execute this judgment in exchange for Rash Curtis’ assignment of rights against its insurance company Indian Harbor. The lead plaintiff has already secured $75.6 million from the Bad Faith lawsuit against Indian Harbor and this fund is presently being used for paying the Class members. You can choose the payment method including electronic payments via Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, or a cryptocurrency wallet. Alternatively, class members can elect to get paid via cheque.
Eligibility For Making Claim: To qualify for the class action lawsuit consumers must have received unsolicited telephone calls from the Rash Curtis collections agency between 17th June 2012 and 2nd April 2019. These consumers have been divided into subclasses based on whether they received the calls on a landline or cellphone, whether the consumers never had a debt collection account with the company under their name, and whether their numbers were obtained via skip tracing.
Excluded from this class are persons who provided their cell phone number in a credit application to a credit company that opened an account with the Defendant in such debtor’s name before Rash Curtis placed a call using a prerecorded voice and/or an automatic telephone dialing system. Apart from the entities related to Rash Curtis, their agents, and employees, the magistrate or judge to whom this action is assigned is also excluded from the definition of being a class member.
Proof Of Purchase: PIN code and Unique ID. The W-9 form is required for payments exceeding $600.
Potential Claim Amount: The Court issued the Order Granting in Part proposed Plan of Distribution of the settlement proceeds on 1st October 2021. Digital Settlement Group (DSG) has been appointed by the court as the administrator. The Court has ordered DSG to distribute the settlement fund according to the following:
- $25000 payment to lead plaintiff Perez as an incentive award.
- Reimbursement worth $556,525.80 for authorized expenses to the class counsel.
- Payment made for attorney’s fees to the class counsel in the amount of 37% of the settlement fund or $27,972,000.
Under the terms of the Rash Curtis settlement, class members might be eligible to receive hundreds or thousands of dollars. The court has ordered the balance of $46,421,474.20 (arrived at after deducting the payment for expenses, attorney’s fees, settlement administration costs and expenses, and the Plaintiff’s incentive award) to be distributed on a pro-rata basis per call to the eligible class members representing at least $86.82 per call received during the class period.
Each Class member will reportedly receive more than $700 based on the number of calls received. Class members who received numerous calls from Rash Curtis will be eligible for higher payments. More than 12000 class members are expected to receive over $1000 whereas hundreds of other members will be eligible for payments ranging between $5000 and $40000. According to the settlement administrator, a second distribution is planned for any unclaimed funds from the first round of payments to class members who cashed their cheques or whose payments were electronically processed and who provided requisite W9 forms wherever applicable.
Settlement Website: RashCurtisLawsuit.com
Claim Form: Rash Curtis Lawsuit Claim Form
Deadline For Submitting Claim: 6/02/2022
Final Hearing Date: 10/01/2021
Settlement Amount: $267,359,000