Checks are due to begin arriving Monday for 1.7 million Oregon customers overcharged by Arco gas stations and am/pm convenience stores, which tacked on a 35-cent debit card fee to purchases without appropriate notice.

A Multnomah County jury ruled in January 2014 that the retail chains had overcharged customers and a judge ordered their parent company, BP, to pay $409 million.

Oregon customers who filed claim forms will receive their payments in two installments – a $91.94 check this month and another of roughly the same size a year from now. Under a new Oregon law, millions of additional dollars will go to nonprofits that provide legal services and consumer advocacy for Oregonians.

The attorneys who brought the case will receive $65 million, some of which came from the judgment and some of which was paid directly by BP. But millions of additional dollars were left over because hundreds of thousands of Oregonians didn’t file claim forms by the deadline.

(The deadline to apply expired in 2015 after being extended once by the new law. Those who did apply should start getting checks in the mail this week. Update: Attorneys representing plaintiffs in the case said Saturday that “the vast majority” of those eligible for payments will receive them automatically, without having to file a claim. Find more information here.)

That’s common in class-action cases, often times because people didn’t know about the judgement or couldn’t be located for notification. In past cases such leftover funds went back to the defendants. But a 2015 Oregon law changed that and rerouted the money from such judgements to the state’s consumers.

“This new law prevents these funds from being returned to the wrongdoing multinational corporation,” said Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who pushed for the new law. “ Instead, they will remain here and do more general good for consumers in Oregon.”

The gas station case will provide $36 million in two installments to Legal Aid Services of Oregon, which provides legal help to low-income residents and is entitled to half of the unclaimed funds under the 2015 law.

The judge overseeing the case used another $36 million in unclaimed charges to create another nonprofit, now called Oregon Consumer Justice, dedicated to consumer education and protection.

The new organization says it will seek to educate consumers about their rights and legal protections and will work to assert and expand those rights through litigation and legislation.

Note: This article has been updated to make it clear when the deadline to apply expired and to note that attorneys say “the vast majority” of people with claims were enrolled automatically, without having to file for a claim.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699