U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria issued a preliminary injunction that was sought in a lawsuit by 15 jobless Californians who are among thousands who had their benefit debit cards frozen. Bank of America negotiated the terms of the order to prevent the unfreezing of debit cards on thousands of claims it or law enforcement has determined to be fraudulent.

“The court’s order provides substantial and immediate relief to hundreds of thousands of unemployed Californians,” said Brian Danitz, an attorney for unemployed people who sued the bank, in a statement. “The order prohibits the bank from freezing accounts based on a flawed fraud filter, requires the Bank to reopen unauthorized transaction claims it summarily denied, and requires the Bank to comply with the law by investigating those claims and providing provisional credit.”