Court approves $177 million AT&T data breach settlement, opening door to customer payouts

AT&T said that nearly all customer call and text message records were exposed in a large data breach.

Millions of AT&T customers affected by two major 2024 cyber incidents may start receiving money in the coming months after a federal court gave final approval to a $177 million class-action settlement.

What happened?

A senior U.S. district judge in Texas issued a lengthy opinion and order approving the deal, allowing payments to move forward from two non-reversionary funds totaling $177 million.

The ruling ends consolidated multidistrict litigation tied to two separate security incidents disclosed by AT&T in 2024:

• The first breach involves a $149 million fund covering customer data that was leaked on the dark web, including Social Security numbers, account passcodes and dates of birth.
• The second breach involves a $28 million fund resolving claims over call and text log metadata that was illegally downloaded from third-party vendor Snowflake Inc.

As part of the settlement, AT&T denied all allegations of liability and wrongdoing.

Millions of AT&T customers are now eligible for payments in the class-action case tied to the two data breaches.

Expected payout amounts

Settlement money will be divided into two main categories based on claims submitted before the deadline.

People who documented out-of-pocket losses directly linked to the breaches may receive up to $5,000 for the first incident and up to $2,500 for the second.

Claimants without documented losses will receive estimated pro rata cash payments, including:

• Tier 1 for the first breach, involving Social Security exposure: about $39.00 to $40.00.
• Tier 2 for the first breach, involving non-Social Security data: about $7.50 to $8.10.
• Tier 3 for the second breach, involving call and text metadata: about $6.50 to $7.10.

Payment timeline and appeals

Payouts will not begin right away. Under the settlement terms, distributions must start within 60 days after the agreement takes effect, which depends on the usual appeal period after approval.

If no appeals are filed, the settlement is expected to become effective in the near future, with payments likely to begin later and possibly stretch into the following year. Any appeals could delay that schedule.

Claim status and restrictions

The deadline to submit a new claim has passed, and the court order does not allow late filings.

Of nearly 4.9 million claims processed by Kroll Settlement Administration, about 804,000 were flagged for possible fraud. Claimants whose submissions were flagged have 21 days after notice to mail in a physical wet-ink validation form to confirm their identity.

Class members can check the status of their claims on the official settlement portal, telecomdatasettlement.com.

The Source: Information in this article comes from court documents describing the settlement payouts.