Settlement Administrator (Claims Administrator)

A settlement administrator, sometimes called a claims administrator, is a company hired to carry out a class action settlement under the court's supervision. The parties propose an administrator, and the judge approves it as part of the settlement. Well-known administrators handle hundreds of cases a year, from small consumer settlements to multibillion-dollar funds.

The administrator's jobs usually include building the list of class members from company records, sending notice by email, mail, or ads, running the official settlement website and phone line, receiving and reviewing claim forms, flagging fraud, logging opt-outs and objections, reporting claim numbers to the court, calculating each person's share, and sending payments by check or electronic methods. Its costs are usually paid out of the settlement fund, which is one reason administration expenses reduce what class members receive.

The administrator is not the judge, the company, or anyone's lawyer. It follows the settlement agreement and court orders. Federal law also requires defendants to notify government officials of class settlements. Under the Class Action Fairness Act, 28 U.S.C. 1715, defendants must serve notice of a proposed settlement on appropriate federal and state officials within 10 days of filing it, and final approval cannot be granted until at least 90 days after that notice.

Scammers impersonate administrators, so only use the website and contact details listed in the court-approved notice, and never pay a fee to file a claim. See what a settlement administrator does, class action settlement scams, and what to do if you have not received your check.