LITTLE ROCK— Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge released a statement upon the conclusion of oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Arkansas v. Delaware. With this suit, Rutledge seeks to have more than $250 million in unclaimed funds currently being held by the State of Delaware returned to Arkansas and 29 other states. In 2016, Arkansas brought a bipartisan original jurisdiction action against Delaware directly in the United States Supreme Court. The Court then appointed a special master, Judge Pierre N. Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, to oversee the case and recommend a resolution. Judge Leval determined that the Supreme Court should resolve the case in favor of the Arkansas coalition, leading Delaware to file objections to Judge Leval’s recommendation. Today’s oral arguments serve to help the Court determine whether to accept or modify the Special Master’s recommendation.
“Delaware colluded with MoneyGram to skirt federal law and improperly withheld millions of dollars from states across the nation,” said Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. “I am hopeful that the Supreme Court will side with Arkansas and our coalition partners so that these funds may be restored to the proper state.”
The dispute between the Rutledge-led coalition and Delaware centers around which state is entitled to funds from unclaimed “official checks” sold by MoneyGram, a money transfer services company that operates in all 50 states as well as internationally. Under the Federal Disposition Act, proceeds from unclaimed money orders, traveler’s checks and similar items must be turned over to the state where the item was purchased. Delaware, the state where MoneyGram is incorporated, has insisted that the company should turn over hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed funds to Delaware despite what federal law requires.
The coalition is led by Arkansas, with a leadership group from California, Texas and Wisconsin. The other states in the coalition are 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. Pennsylvania is allied with the Arkansas coalition and did not argue separately, instead deferring to Arkansas.