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Class-action settlements with deadlines, claim forms, payout terms and proof requirements, data-breach settlements, FTC refund programs, state attorney general settlements and newly filed consumer lawsuits.
Browse by topic: Class actions · FTC refunds
Sources we read: Court dockets via CourtListener · Settlement administrators · Federal Trade Commission · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · State attorneys general. RSS feed.
Agencies
The FTC, Utah and Nevada allege Lens.com advertised low contact lens prices, then added a mandatory fee that often doubled them. These are allegations; the court will decide, and no refund program exists.
The largest US wine and spirits distributor agreed to limit price gaps between big chains and small retailers in 26 states, under a six-year order with an independent monitor.
The FTC and a coalition of states say Corteva’s loyalty program blocked cheaper generic pesticides from reaching farmers. A 10-year order now ends it; a similar case against Syngenta continues.
A revised court order raises Amazon’s Prime refund cap to $200, adds people who used 11 to 20 benefits, and pays everyone automatically from October 1.
The FTC and Washington say Amway pressured people to buy unsellable products with false earnings promises; $225 million now goes back to them.
A federal court already found FleetCor violated the FTC Act by hiding fees from small business customers; a new $100 million order sends that money back.
The FTC says the payment processor knowingly kept open more than 1,000 shell merchant accounts, including one tied to a prior FTC fraud case. It pays $12 million and is permanently barred from processing for the riskiest merchant categories; no refund round has been announced.
The FTC says the payment processor opened and kept merchant accounts for a tech support scheme and hid its chargebacks from card network monitoring. The money is meant for consumer redress, but no refund round has been announced.
Preliminary approval, notice, claims, the fairness hearing, appeals, then distribution. Each stage has a purpose, and together they explain the years between a headline and a check.
Do nothing and you are bound by the result with no payment. The three real options, the deadlines that govern them, and how Rule 23 treats each.
The Federal Trade Commission sues, the company pays, and the money goes back to customers, usually without a claim form. The sequence, who administers it, and the deadlines attached.
These settlements pay for documented out-of-pocket losses, sometimes for time, and usually offer credit monitoring. What to keep, what to claim, and what a filed case does not mean.
A company can pay millions and concede nothing. The phrase is not a loophole; it describes what a court actually decides when it approves a settlement.
Real settlements have a court behind them, a case number you can check and an administrator who never asks for a fee. The four checks that separate a genuine claim site from a copy.
Most consumer settlements let you claim a small amount without records and a larger one with them. What counts as proof, what does not, and how to decide which tier to file.
The fund, the fees, the administration costs and the claim rate all sit between a headline settlement figure and the money that reaches a class member. Here is the arithmetic.
Customers on unlimited plans had their speeds cut after a monthly threshold. The FTC is now paying people who never cashed the first check.
A third round of payments is going to drivers whose tips Amazon kept between 2016 and 2019, this time to people who never cashed the first check.
The FTC says Ring let employees see customer videos and left accounts open to attackers. Payments are automatic for eligible account holders.
Drivers who were misled about earnings and diners locked out of their accounts are being paid automatically. Checks must be cashed within 90 days.