Does this lawsuit spell the end of the gift card party as retailers and card issuers know it? At issue is the remainder minutes on AT&T prepaid calling cards (breakage); there is often not enough left (pennies?) on a calling card to make an actual call, so the money is effectively lost. The lawsuit aims to repatriate that money into the State unclaimed property coffers, which, as anyone with a brain knows generally goes eventually into the State’s general fund, because unclaimed property of this type is VERY hard to return to the consumer.

What is interesting is that the State is going after a smaller breakage of this type. This could either happen because States are truly concerned about the consumer (not betting on it) or they are increasingly looking for additional cash to grab (most likely). In either case, combined with new State and Federal gift card laws, this could be the end of the party for gift card issuers.