§ 1519.5.Sums Held By Business Organization Ordered Refunded By Court Or Administrative Agency

Courts and regulatory agencies sometimes order businesses to refund money to customers, and Section 1519.5 addresses what happens when a customer never comes forward to collect. Any sum a business association was ordered to refund by a court or administrative agency, including but not limited to the Public Utilities Commission, escheats to California if it remains unclaimed for more than one year after it became payable under the final order or determination, regardless of whether that order required the recipient to affirmatively file a claim to get paid.

The Legislature gave this section unusually broad retroactive reach, applying it to all funds business associations were holding on or after January 1, 1977, that remained undistributed as of the section's own effective date. At the same time, the section is careful not to expand or shrink a court's or agency's own authority; nothing in it changes the power those bodies already have to order equitable remedies. The one-year period here is notably shorter than the three years this chapter uses for ordinary dormant property, reflecting that a court or agency has already determined the money is owed and just needs it to reach the right person.