About classactionsettlementcalc.com

classactionsettlementcalc.com is a free class action resource maintained by The Click Lab. Our settlement calculator and guides help class members figure out roughly what their individual payout might look like once a settlement is distributed — and just as often, help them understand why a headline settlement number almost never matches what actually lands in a claimant's account. The Site is built for someone who received a class action notice or found their name connected to a settled case and wants a plain-English starting point before deciding whether to file a claim, opt out, or ignore it.

What we do

We translate settlement administration mechanics — attorney fee awards, administration costs, claims filing rates, and plans of allocation — into a plain-English calculator and guides. Every page is reviewed by our editorial team with citations to published settlement administration data and court-approved allocation plans. The calculator takes the gross settlement amount, estimated class size, claims filing rate, allocation method, and named-plaintiff status, and models the net fund and per-claimant share those inputs typically produce.

Who this calculator is for

Most visitors fall into one of a few groups: class members who received a settlement notice or postcard and want to know what a realistic payout range looks like before deciding whether filing a claim is worth their time; people trying to understand why a "$500 million settlement" produced a $12 check; class members weighing whether opting out and pursuing an individual claim could ever make sense; and named plaintiffs curious about how an incentive award factors into the total. We built the Site around these use cases, which is why every guide leads with a plain-English answer before it gets into allocation-plan detail.

How the estimate is built

The full mechanics — how the net fund is derived after attorney fees and administration costs, how claims filing rates vary by case type, and how equal, pro-rata, tiered, and coupon allocation methods change an individual share — are documented on our methodology page. At a high level: the calculator reduces the gross settlement by a typical fee-and-cost percentage, divides the remaining net fund by the number of class members expected to actually file a claim at the given claims rate, and adjusts the result for the selected allocation method and named-plaintiff status.

What we don’t do

We don't provide legal advice, and nothing on this Site creates an attorney-client relationship. What you personally will receive from a specific settlement depends on the court-approved plan of allocation, the actual claims rate once the filing deadline passes, and case-specific facts our calculator can't see — variables that routinely move a real payout above or below a generic estimate. We also don't evaluate individual claims, tell you whether you qualify for a specific settlement, estimate what a named case will actually pay, or file claims on anyone's behalf. For questions about a specific settlement, the claims administrator named in your class notice is the authoritative source; see our contact page for more on when that's the right place to go instead of us.

Editorial standards

Every guide and reference page is written from primary sources — published settlement administration data, court orders approving plans of allocation, and procedural rules governing class actions — and reviewed before publication. We don't publish thin content: each page is meant to answer a specific question a class member would actually ask, with enough detail to be useful when a notice shows up in the mail. Our full editorial workflow, contributor backgrounds, and sourcing policy are on the editorial team page.

How we make money

Display advertising via Google AdSense funds our editorial content, and we don't accept paid placements or favorable mentions in our guides — no law firm or settlement administrator pays to influence what we write. Separately, the Site offers an optional case-review form: if you submit it, your name, phone, email, and case details are shared with attorneys who may compensate The Click Lab Agency LLC for the referral. That's a disclosed advertising product, not an editorial endorsement, and using it is always optional. See our privacy policy for details on data handling and what's shared if you use the form.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or feedback: see our contact page.