AT&T Class Action Lawsuit: $177M Settlement Payouts and Eligibility

The AT&T class action lawsuit over the 2024 data breaches has produced a proposed $177 million settlement, but as of mid-2026 no one has been paid. Judge Ada Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas held the final approval hearing on January 15, 2026, and has not yet ruled. The claim filing window closed on December 18, 2025, and roughly 4.38 million people filed on time.¹ Payments will not go out until the court grants final approval and any appeals are resolved.²

What the Settlement Covers

The deal resolves consolidated litigation over two separate 2024 breaches, captioned In Re: AT&T Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, MDL No. 3:24-md-03114-E.³ The $177 million fund is split into two pools that track the two incidents: $149 million for the first breach and $28 million for the second.⁴

The first incident was disclosed on March 30, 2024, when AT&T confirmed that a data set had surfaced on the dark web containing names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and account passcodes dating from 2019 or earlier. AT&T said roughly 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders were affected.⁵

The second incident, announced on July 12, 2024, involved a completely different data set. Hackers accessed an AT&T workspace on Snowflake’s cloud platform over 11 days in April 2024 and downloaded call and text records for nearly 110 million wireless customers. The stolen records covered interactions from roughly May through October 2022 plus a small batch from January 2023, and included phone numbers contacted, interaction counts, call durations, and some cell tower location data. Message content, names, and Social Security numbers were not exposed.⁶

Who Was Eligible and What They Can Receive

Judge Brown granted preliminary approval on June 20, 2025, and at the same hearing denied a motion by three individuals to intervene and oppose the deal.⁷⁸ The settlement recognizes two overlapping classes.

The AT&T 1 class covers all living U.S. residents whose personal data — names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, account passcodes, billing numbers, or Social Security numbers — was included in the March 2024 dark web incident. That group takes in roughly 73 million current and former customers. The AT&T 2 class covers AT&T account owners or authorized line users whose telephone numbers, call or text records, or cell site IDs were compromised in the July 2024 Snowflake incident, along with customers of mobile virtual network operators using AT&T’s network.⁹ People affected by both are “overlap settlement class members” and could claim from both pools.

Compensation depends on the class and whether a claimant could document specific financial losses tied to the breach:

AT&T 1 documented losses: up to $5,000 for out-of-pocket losses occurring in 2019 or later that can be traced to the breach, with supporting documentation.
AT&T 2 documented losses: up to $2,500 for losses occurring on or after April 14, 2024.
AT&T 1 tier payments: class members who don’t claim documented losses receive a pro rata share of the remaining fund, with those whose Social Security numbers were exposed getting five times the amount paid to those whose SSN was not involved.
AT&T 2 tier payments: account owners receive a pro rata share of the AT&T 2 fund after costs are deducted.²

Someone hit by both breaches could theoretically receive up to $7,500 in documented-loss payments.⁴ In practice, per-person payouts will likely run much lower. The actual amounts come out of what’s left after administrative costs, attorneys’ fees, and service awards are subtracted from the fund and the remainder is divided among valid claimants. About 4.38 million people filed by the deadline, a claims rate of roughly 4.8 percent.¹

Class counsel has asked the court to approve $59 million in attorneys’ fees, one-third of the fund. The Lanier Law Firm, which represented the AT&T 1 class, requested roughly $49.7 million plus costs, and Kopelowitz Ostrow, lead counsel for the AT&T 2 class, asked for about $9.3 million plus costs.¹⁰ The judge has not ruled on the fee petition.

Where the Case Stands Now

The claim filing deadline passed on December 18, 2025, and claim forms are no longer available on the settlement website. If you didn’t file by then, you can’t file now.²

Judge Brown held the final approval hearing on January 15, 2026. As of the settlement website’s most recent update on April 23, 2026, she has not issued a decision. Kroll Settlement Administration is reviewing and processing filed claims while everyone waits. No future court dates have been set, and no timeline for a ruling has been announced.²

Even after the court rules, appeals could push distribution out further. The settlement website is explicit that benefits will not be paid until approval is finalized and any appeals are resolved.²

If you filed a claim and want to check its status or ask a question, contact Kroll at (833) 890-4930.¹¹

1
Yahoo Finance. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Nearing
2
Telecom Data Settlement. In Re: AT&T Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation Settlement
3
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas. MDL 3:24-md-03114
4
CNN. AT&T Data Leak Settlement
5
AT&T. Addressing Data Set Released on Dark Web
6
Mozilla Foundation. AT&T Had a Huge Data Breach — Here’s What You Need to Know
7
Law360. AT&T Customers’ $177M Data Breach Deal Wins Initial OK
8
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas. Preliminary Approval Order, MDL 3114
9
Wolters Kluwer. AT&T Settlement Agreement
10
Greenwich Time. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Attorney Fees
11
ABC10. AT&T Data Breach Settlement Deadline — How to File a Claim