Settlement has been reached in a payday lending class-action case initiated in 2007 by the Consumer Law Litigation Clinic of the University of Wisconsin Law School.

The payday loan company Tremont Financial LLC, which was found to be in violation of the Wisconsin Consumer Act, will pay $60,000 in settlement and will cease issuing loans to Wisconsin residents.

Under the settlement, which was reached on February 12, 2009 and approved by Judge Sarah O'Brien of Dane County Circuit Court, Tremont Financial must release all its Wisconsin consumers from any outstanding debt. Each member of the 134-member class filing the suit will receive approximately $330 from the settlement fund.

Bernhardt v Tremont Financial was initiated in December 2007 by Consumer Law Litigation Clinic Director Steve Meili and law students Jennifer Marques and Andy Gehl.  In May 2008, students Nick Watt and Meredith Gray took over work on the ongoing case. The clinic is currently supervised by Clinical Instructor Sarah Orr, who joined the Law School staff in Fall 2008.

Tremont settled with the Consumer Law Litigation Clinic and the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The State Department of Financial Institutions assisted in the case.



 

This article appears in the categories: Articles