AUSTIN – Texas, along with a bipartisan coalition of 29 other states, has reached a settlement ending the outstanding damages phase of an unclaimed property dispute before the U.S. Supreme Court. Texas and the other states will take possession of more than $190 million in unclaimed property.
In 2023, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court sided with Texas and its coalition partners, holding that unclaimed official checks issued by MoneyGram Payment Systems, Inc. (“MoneyGram”) are governed by the Federal Disposition Act. The settlement effectively ends the remaining damages phase of the consolidated actions of State of Delaware v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania et al., No. 145 Original, and State of Arkansas, et al. v. State of Delaware, No. 146 Original.
Under the terms of the settlement, Delaware will transfer more than $102 million of the property that MoneyGram reported to Delaware from 2011 to 2017 to the coalition states, based on each monetary instrument’s place of purchase. Delaware’s transfer represents roughly half of the report years disputed in the litigation.
In addition, approximately $89 million deposited by MoneyGram in a litigation escrow account from 2018 to 2022, plus interest earned, will be distributed among all 50 states based on each instrument’s place of purchase. The coalition states will receive nearly $55 million, plus earned interest, from the escrow account. States will assume custody and responsibility to return any property received under the terms of the settlement or from the escrow account to owners, including paying any claims for the property.
The settlement agreement ends the outstanding parts of the ongoing litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I am pleased that we have been able to reach an agreement with Delaware to release money wrongfully withheld from Texas in violation of federal law,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton. “Texas worked diligently with Arkansas and all of our coalition partners to ensure that unclaimed funds wrongly delivered to Delaware were released to the states with rightful claims.”
In addition to Arkansas, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, and Wisconsin, the original action in the Supreme Court against Delaware was joined by the States of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
