DENVER (Legal Newsline) - Lawsuit lenders Oasis Legal Finance and LawCash (Plaintiff Funding Holding, Inc.) have been ordered to pay in excess of $2 million to settle claims they charged Colorado consumers excessive interest rates.
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman announced Monday a settlement in the form of a consent judgment out of Denver District Court which requires the lenders to collectively pay a total of $2,328,511 in redress.
A press release announcing the settlement states that Oasis and LawCash provided money to consumers who had pending personal injury claims arising from events such as automobile accidents. Consumers were then obligated to pay back an increased amount in the event that they recovered money in their lawsuits.
“Consumer loans come in many forms," Coffman stated. "My office works to stop unscrupulous lenders who try and evade Colorado’s consumer protections by disguising their loans as other transactions. This settlement helps ensure that Colorado’s consumer lending laws will continue to provide protection to those in need.”
Oasis and LawCash initially filed suit against Coffman claiming that their transactions with consumers were not loans as defined by Colorado law. In a Nov. 16, 2015 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Attorney General and held that the transactions were in fact loans, and that those loans were subject to Colorado’s interest rate limits and other consumer protections, the release states.
The settlement also contains injunctive relief against future violations of the law.
Coffman's office will send out restitution checks to affected consumers.