Class action complaint against quick-cash loan store amended

A man claiming a quick-cash loan store illegally notified his employer of its intent to reassign his wages filed an amended complaint on Aug. 13.

Mark A. Lewis, individually and on behalf of hundreds of others  similarly situated, filed the class action lawsuit on May 31 against Advance America in Godfrey and Cash Advance Centers of Illinois, Inc.

According to the complaint, Lewis claims he signed a contract with Advance America in July 2010, allowing assignment of his wages if he failed to make proper payments on the loan.

In May 2012, Advance America allegedly faxed a notice of intent to assign wages to Lewis’s employer. However, according to the Illinois Wage Assignment Act, the notice should have been sent directly to Lewis by registered or certified mail, rather than his employer.

The Illinois Wage Assignment Act, according to the suit, states that a notice of intention for wage assignment must be served to the customer 20 days before a demand is made to an the employer.

Lewis claims Advance America served similar improper notices of wage assignment to employers of other customers.

The defendants were summoned to respond to the complaint on Aug. 16. They were given 30 days to file an answer or file an appearance.

The amended complaint lists all those included in the class as, “All persons in Illinois who from five years preceding the filing of this case until final judgment were not sent by registered or certified mail a notice of Defendant’s intent to assign their wages.”

Lewis seeks more than $50,000 in damages plus court costs.

The plaintiffs are represented by Shari L. Murphy of Wood River.

Madison County Circuit Court case number 13-L-924