WESTconsin Credit Union (Menomonie, WI) has agreed to a preliminary settlement of $700,000 to end a class action lawsuit that claimed the credit union violated Wisconsin's Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
The plaintiffs, Mary Eggen and Bradley Eggen, filed this class action on December 16, 2014.
As background, the plaintiffs defaulted on a consumer loans from WESTconsin Credit Union. The credit union sued them in state court in 2010. Included in defendant’s publicly filed court documents were plaintiffs’ Social Security numbers and driver license numbers. The plaintiffs claimed that the disclosure of that information violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
On February 26, 2016, the court certified the following class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3): “All individuals whose driver license numbers defendant WESTconsin disclosed on or after December 16, 2010 in an action filed in Wisconsin circuit court to recover unpaid loan balances.” According to the lawsuit, there were 382 class members.
Under the terms of the agreement, WESTconsin Credit Union agreed to pay $700,000.16, which will be distributed as follows: (a) $1,149.15 to each of the 381 class members (a total of $437,826.15); (b) $5,000 to each class representative; (c) $231,000 for attorney fees; and (d) $21,174.01 for litigation costs.
A hearing on final approval of the settlement agreement will be held on April 6, 2017.
Read the opinion and order.
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