Class action settlement statistics
What the 13,163 settlements in this catalogue look like in aggregate — how big the funds are, how many are open, and how that varies by the kind of case.
Every settlement we track by the numbers
A settlement fund is the total a defendant agreed to pay, not what any one claimant receives — most funds are divided among everyone who files. Settlements are negotiated agreements, and defendants typically deny wrongdoing rather than being found liable.
By category
Fund figures are drawn only from settlements that publish one, and are withheld where too few do to be meaningful.
| Category | Tracked | Open | Median fund | Combined | Disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer products | 3,063 | 6 | $10.0M | $174.0B | 60/3063 |
| Privacy | 1,958 | 4 | $2.5M | $575.9B | 179/1958 |
| Employment | 1,744 | 3 | $1.2M | $513.6M | 41/1744 |
| Telecom | 1,543 | 0 | $2.4M | $136.7M | 20/1543 |
| Finance | 1,470 | 3 | $6M | $6.0B | 41/1470 |
| Data breach | 1,100 | 2 | $1.1M | $19.8B | 167/1100 |
| Drugs & medical | 503 | 2 | — | — | too few |
| Insurance | 444 | 2 | $12.7M | $3.4B | 12/444 |
| Food & beverage | 434 | 0 | — | — | too few |
| Automotive | 305 | 2 | — | — | too few |
| Securities | 111 | 2 | $20M | $5.1B | 99/111 |
Filing years covered
When the cases we track were originally filed. This describes our coverage, not how many class actions were filed. Settlements are catalogued from administrators' live sites, so older cases have been wound up and taken down, and the newest ones haven't reached a settlement yet. Read as a trend it would be badly misleading.
- 20155
- 201614
- 20176
- 201814
- 201925
- 202032
- 202129
- 202244
- 202389
- 20244782
- 20254559
- 20262914
The oldest case tracked was filed in 2008; 10 settlements fall in years too sparse to chart.
By state
Where cases were filed. Most class actions cover people nationwide regardless of the court they were filed in.
What these numbers do and don't measure
- There is no “cases won” figure. A settlement is a negotiated agreement, and defendants almost always deny wrongdoing rather than being found liable. Cases still in litigation have no outcome at all.
- A settlement fund isn't a payout. It's the total a defendant agreed to pay, usually divided among everyone who files, after fees. Individual payments are much smaller and depend on how many people claim.
- This is our catalogue, not the whole country. It covers settlements run by the administrators we monitor. Cases handled elsewhere don't appear, so treat every count as a floor.
Full detail on sources and limitations is on the methodology page.