Reimbursements to Wells Fargo Bank customers in California continue to be doled out following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April that denied the bank’s appeal related to a lawsuit involving overdraft fees.

Beginning July 1, paper checks were sent to members of a class-action lawsuit who are no longer Wells Fargo customers, according to the bank’s spokesman Kristopher Dahl. Current customers received reimbursements electronically between May 10 and 18.

“The reimbursement process is overseen by the court-appointed class administrator as well as the federal district judge who has managed the underlying lawsuit,” Dahl told the Daily Press on Wednesday. “Wells Fargo’s part of this process is complete; it is now in the hands of the class administrator, which is mailing out the checks.”

Kurtzman Carson Consultants was appointed the class administrator, according to court records.

A representative for the firm said no phone support was available for the case when asked when the reimbursement process will be completed, but court documents show that the firm has 180 days from the initial mailing of checks to file a declaration describing efforts taken to distribute the reimbursements.

The lawsuit — filed in November 2007 — involved plaintiff Veronica Gutierrez, of San Bernardino County, and stemmed from bank policy that violated California law by misrepresenting the order in which debit-card transactions were sequenced, according to a website for the lawsuit.

The high-to-low policy resulted in unexpected overdraft fees ranging from $25 to $35.

The April 4 decision of the Supreme Court to uphold the settlement of approximately $203 million came after several appeals made by the bank, the practices of which were found to be “unfair” and “fraudulent” under California’s Unfair Competition Law, according to court documents.

In addition to the settlement that covers a time period between 2004 and 2008, Wells Fargo was also prohibited from making misrepresentations in the future about how it sequences debit-card transactions.

Dahl said the high-to-low policy — enacted in the early 2000s — was an effort to give priority to larger transactions, including mortgage, rent and car payments, “which are typically a customer’s highest priority.”

… Communications and practices challenged in this litigation ended some years ago, so the ruling in this case has no impact on the bank’s current operations,” Dahl said.

“… Specifically, debit card transactions are now posted based on the date and time the customer initiates the transaction. If more than one transaction has the same date and time, the bank will look at the dollar size of the transaction and post them from lowest-to-highest amount.”

Wells Fargo customers with questions related to the lawsuit and reimbursements may contact 877-651-4199 for more information.

Matthew Cabe can be reached at [email protected] or at 760-951-6254. Follow him on Twitter @DP_MatthewCabe.