No information was provided on the amount of money collected.

Collection tactics

Hamilton's suit, however, disputes that this is the way the program works.

ACCS falsely threatens to prosecute those people who write bad checks, the suit claims, even if the writers did not know their checks would not clear because of insufficient funds.

As Dvorak pointed out, state law says a person must "knowingly or intentionally" write a bad check for the person to commit check deception, a class A misdemeanor.

Hamilton, who has multiple sclerosis, says she gave her pregnant daughter a disability check to deposit. Her daughter went into premature labor and was unable to deposit the money before she wrote some checks, she explained.

"I'm not in the practice of writing bad checks," Hamilton said.

Giving the false impression that civil collection matters are criminally enforceable is a civil rights violation, the suit claims, because an unsophisticated consumer could assume this to mean arrest and imprisonment.

Hamilton also disputes that the bad check program is optional, saying she never enrolled in the program but was consistently treated as if she were locked into the program and its fees.

ACCS, the complaint says, is nothing more than a check collection business that represents itself as an official law enforcement agency.

O. Randolph Bragg, a Chicago lawyer who represents Hamilton, said ACCS violates the debt collection act by failing to identify itself as a collection agency and charging disallowed fees.

Dvorak said his office has discussed the procedures for contacting check writers but did not know if any changes were made as a result.

In 2003, a $2 million settlement was reached in another class-action suit filed against ACCS. The case still is pending in the courts, Randolph said.

Staff writer Matthew S. Galbraith:

mgalbraith@sbtinfo.com

(574) 235-6359

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