Federal consumer watchdog drops lawsuit against Walmart

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its delivery driver payment lawsuit against Walmart and the financial technology platform Branch Messenger. The case was dismissed on Wednesday in a federal district court in Minnesota “with prejudice,” according to court filings.

In the lawsuit filed in late December, CFPB claimed Walmart told Spark drivers that they were required to use Branch to get paid and faced termination if they did not use these accounts. The lawsuit also stated that Walmart deceived workers regarding the availability of same-day access to their earnings and made drivers follow a complex process to access their funds. 

These actions led to workers paying more than $10 million in fees to transfer their earnings to an account of their choice, according to CFPB’s initial filing against the companies. 

“We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case. As we said from the start, the CFPB’s rushed lawsuit was riddled with factual errors and misguided claims. It should never have been filed in the first place,” a Walmart spokesperson said in an emailed statement. 

In a separate email, Branch noted that CFPB dismissing the case with prejudice “reinforces [its] belief that the case lacked merit.” 

CFPB did not respond to a request for comment by press time.