Antifungal Spray Settlement: $4.85M Bayer Payouts and Recall

The antifungal spray settlement is a $4.85 million class action agreement resolving claims that Bayer sold Lotrimin and Tinactin aerosol sprays contaminated with benzene, a known carcinogen. The case, Huertas et al. v. Bayer U.S. LLC, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and the judge is scheduled to decide final approval on May 13, 2026.¹ Bayer has not admitted wrongdoing.

Who Is Covered

The settlement class includes anyone in the United States who bought one of nine recalled Lotrimin or Tinactin aerosol sprays on or after November 16, 2015.¹ The products are:

Lotrimin AF Athlete’s Foot Powder Spray
Lotrimin AF Jock Itch Athlete’s Foot Powder Spray
Lotrimin AF Athlete’s Foot Deodorant Powder Spray
Lotrimin AF Athlete’s Foot Liquid Spray
Lotrimin AF Athlete’s Foot Daily Prevention Deodorant Powder Spray
Tinactin Jock Itch Powder Spray
Tinactin Athlete’s Foot Deodorant Powder Spray
Tinactin Athlete’s Foot Powder Spray
Tinactin Athlete’s Foot Liquid Spray

Only cans with lot numbers starting with TN, CV, or NAA qualify. Those lots were distributed between September 2018 and September 2021.² One claim per household is allowed, and any refund a household already received from Bayer’s original recall program is deducted from the settlement payout.³

What You Could Get

Claimants chose one of two paths:

With proof of purchase: the full purchase price of every eligible product bought, with no cap on quantity.
Without proof of purchase: up to three products per household at $7.00 each, for a maximum of $21.00.

Payouts can move up or down on a pro rata basis depending on how many valid claims land against the fund.² Fewer claims means larger checks; a flood of claims means smaller ones.

Key Dates and Current Status

The court granted preliminary approval on December 11, 2025.¹ The deadline to file a claim, opt out, or object was March 11, 2026.⁴ Claims were submitted online at AntiFungalSpraySettlement.com or by mail. If you missed the March 11 deadline, you can no longer file.

The final approval hearing is set for May 13, 2026. At that hearing, Judge Susan D. Wigenton will decide whether the settlement is fair and will rule on the requested attorney fees and incentive awards.⁴ Payments are not issued until after final approval and any appeal period closes. No publicly reported objections have surfaced in available sources.

Why Bayer Recalled the Sprays

On October 1, 2021, Bayer voluntarily recalled all unexpired Lotrimin and Tinactin aerosol sprays distributed from September 2018 through September 2021 after detecting what it called “low levels of residual solvent benzene” in some finished-product samples.⁵ Bayer called the recall “precautionary” and said the detected levels were “not expected to cause adverse health consequences,” and reported no known adverse events at the time.⁶

Benzene is classified as a Group 1 human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and chronic exposure through inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption has been linked to leukemia and other blood disorders. Benzene is not an intentional ingredient in these sprays. The FDA recommends that manufacturers not release drug batches containing more than 2 parts per million of benzene.⁷

Named plaintiffs Juan Huertas and Eva Mistretta sued Bayer on November 16, 2021, roughly six weeks after the recall, bringing claims for breach of express and implied warranty, violations of New York consumer protection laws, fraud, and unjust enrichment.⁸ The plaintiffs are represented by Bursor & Fisher, P.A.⁹

How the $4.85 Million Is Divided

Several deductions come off the top of the fund before class members are paid, all subject to court approval at the May 13 hearing:

Settlement administration costs of up to $500,000, with Rust Consulting, Inc. serving as administrator.¹⁰
Attorney fees of up to $1,616,666, or one-third of the fund.
Attorney expenses of up to $100,000.
Incentive awards of up to $2,000 for each of five named plaintiffs, capped at $10,000 total.¹¹

What remains after those deductions is the net fund distributed to claimants under the pro rata rules described above.

1
AntiFungalSpraySettlement.com. Antifungal Spray Settlement
2
PR Newswire. Bayer Lotrimin or Tinactin Product Settlement Notice
3
ClassAction.org. $4.85M Bayer Settlement Ends Class Action Over Alleged Benzene Contamination in Anti-Fungal Sprays
4
ClaimDepot. Antifungal Spray Settlement
5
FDA. Bayer Issues Voluntary Recall of Specific Lotrimin and Tinactin Spray Products Due to Presence of Benzene
6
McLane Company. Bayer Lotrimin Tinactin Recall Notice
7
FDA. Frequently Asked Questions: Benzene Contamination in Drugs
8
ClassAction.org. Huertas et al. v. Bayer U.S. LLC, Complaint
9
Top Class Actions. Lotrimin, Tinactin Antifungal Products Containing Benzene Sold by Bayer, Says Class Action
10
AntiFungalSpraySettlement.com. Settlement Agreement
11
CAFA Notices. Huertas v. Bayer CAFA Notice