Top Business Settlements in U.S. History, Ranked

The largest business settlements in U.S. history reach into the tens of billions of dollars and span securities fraud, environmental catastrophe, antitrust conspiracies, opioid liability, and consumer deception. At the top of the list sits the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which has paid states hundreds of billions of dollars since 1998 and keeps paying every year. The single biggest discrete deal currently moving through the courts is the $38 billion Visa and Mastercard swipe fee settlement, preliminarily approved in June 2026. Behind those are BP’s $20.8 billion Deepwater Horizon resolution, Volkswagen’s Dieselgate payouts topping $25 billion, Purdue Pharma’s $7.4 billion opioid settlement, and the Enron and WorldCom securities class actions at $7.2 billion and $6.2 billion respectively.

Visa and Mastercard: $38 Billion Swipe Fee Settlement

On June 10, 2026, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn granted preliminary approval to a revised $38 billion settlement between Visa, Mastercard, and a class of more than 12 million merchants. The litigation began in 2005, with merchants alleging that the card networks and major banks conspired to inflate interchange fees, the “swipe fees” charged on every credit card transaction.¹

The deal replaces a $30 billion proposal that a different federal judge rejected in June 2024 as insufficient. Under the new terms, Visa and Mastercard will lower swipe fees by 0.1 percentage point for five years and cap standard consumer credit card rates at no more than 1.25% for eight years. Merchants also gained the right to choose which categories of cards they accept and greater flexibility to surcharge credit card transactions, effectively dismantling the longstanding “Honor All Cards” rule.¹ Neither card network admitted wrongdoing.²

Judge Cogan called the settlement “fair, reasonable, and adequate” and indicated he was likely to grant final approval. The National Retail Federation and the National Association of Convenience Stores are opposing the deal, arguing it fails to address the card networks’ underlying market power. For scale, U.S. Visa and Mastercard swipe fees totaled $118.8 billion in 2025, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.¹

A separate, older $5.54 billion Visa/Mastercard interchange settlement, covering fees from January 2004 through January 2019, is still distributing funds. The Second Circuit affirmed that deal in March 2023, and as of June 2026, roughly $414 million has been paid to about 598,000 merchants, with $1.5 billion still in the fund.³⁴

Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement

By cumulative payout, the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement is the largest business settlement in American history. Signed by 52 state and territory attorneys general and more than 45 tobacco companies, the MSA obligates manufacturers to make annual payments to states in perpetuity, so long as cigarettes are sold in the U.S. Four states, Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas, settled separately before the MSA.⁵

In calendar year 2024 alone, tobacco settlement payments to states and territories reached roughly $6.9 billion. The largest recipients were California ($764 million), New York ($639 million), Texas ($469 million), Pennsylvania ($352 million), and Florida ($352 million).⁶ Cumulative payments since 1998 run well into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

BP Deepwater Horizon: $20.8 Billion

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico produced one of the most expensive corporate resolutions on record. In April 2016, a federal judge approved a $20.8 billion settlement of civil and criminal claims against BP, Anadarko, TransOcean, and Halliburton under the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act.⁷

The settlement included about $5.5 billion in Clean Water Act civil penalties, with 80% ($4.4 billion) flowing into the RESTORE Act fund for Gulf Coast restoration.⁷ BP committed up to $8.8 billion for natural resource damage restoration, including $7.1 billion for long-term projects spanning 15 years, and paid a $4 billion criminal fine after a 2012 guilty plea to 14 felony counts.⁸

On the private side, BP’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility paid $6.2 billion to more than 220,000 claimants, and total private claim payments reached about $14.8 billion by October 2016. BP estimated its total cost from the disaster at $61.6 billion in June 2016.⁸

Volkswagen Dieselgate: Over $25 Billion

Volkswagen’s 2015 admission that it installed emissions defeat devices in diesel vehicles triggered one of the largest consumer-facing settlements ever. A June 2016 agreement covered roughly 500,000 owners and lessees of 2.0-liter diesel VW and Audi vehicles, providing up to $10.03 billion for buybacks, lease terminations, and emissions modifications.⁹ The deal also included $2.7 billion for an environmental mitigation trust and $2 billion for zero-emission vehicle infrastructure.¹⁰

By 2020, VW and Porsche had repaid more than $9.5 billion to buyers, with over 86% of participants choosing to return their vehicles.¹¹ Separate agreements covered 3.0-liter vehicles, and VW paid an additional $1.45 billion in Clean Air Act civil penalties.¹⁰

Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family: $7.4 Billion

On May 1, 2026, Purdue Pharma’s $7.4 billion opioid settlement became legally effective after years of bankruptcy litigation. The agreement was signed by 55 attorneys general representing all eligible U.S. states and territories. Oklahoma, which reached a separate earlier deal, is the only state outside it.¹²

The initial round of payments totaled more than $2.4 billion: over $1.5 billion from the Sackler family and about $900 million from Purdue. Additional Sackler payments are scheduled for May 2027 ($500 million), May 2028 ($500 million), and May 2029 ($400 million).¹³¹⁴ Funds support addiction treatment, prevention, recovery programs, individual victims, and other creditors.¹⁵

The settlement permanently bars the Sackler family from selling opioids in the United States and requires the public release of more than 30 million internal documents. Purdue’s manufacturing operations transferred to a new entity, Knoa Pharma LLC, which is prohibited from marketing opioids and operates under an independent monitor.¹²

A separate $700 million class action, approved by U.S. District Judge Kea W. Riggs in March 2025, resolved claims by non-government acute care hospitals against Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Allergan, Cardinal Health, McKesson, and Cencora. It provides $651 million in cash plus $49 million worth of Naloxone over seven years, covering hospitals that treated patients with opioid-related conditions between January 2009 and October 2024.¹⁶¹⁷

The Biggest Securities Class Actions

Securities fraud class actions have produced several of the largest investor recoveries in American history. The record belongs to Enron Corporation at approximately $7.2 billion, resolved after the energy company’s 2001 collapse. WorldCom’s accounting fraud produced the second-largest at roughly $6.2 billion.¹⁸¹⁹

Rounding out the top securities settlements:

Cendant Corporation, approximately $3.3 billion, over inflated financial results at the travel and real estate conglomerate.
Tyco International, $3.2 billion in 2007, over accounting manipulation by executives.
Petrobras, $3 billion in 2018, resolving claims tied to the Brazilian oil company’s role in a sweeping corruption scandal.
AOL Time Warner, $2.5 billion in 2006, over allegations that AOL inflated advertising revenue around the merger.
Bank of America, $2.425 billion, related to disclosures about the Merrill Lynch acquisition.
Nortel Networks, over $2.2 billion across two related settlements involving accounting restatements.
Household International, approximately $1.575 billion, over predatory lending and accounting fraud.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals, $1.21 billion in 2021, over misleading disclosures about drug pricing and distribution.

Figures come from the Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and the Berman Tabacco Top 100 list.¹⁸¹⁹

Blue Cross Blue Shield: $2.8 Billion

An Alabama federal judge approved a $2.8 billion settlement in August 2025 between the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, its member entities, and millions of healthcare providers. Hospitals, physician practices, and other providers who treated BCBS members between July 2008 and October 2024 alleged the BCBS entities divided geographic markets to avoid competing, driving up costs and reducing reimbursements.²⁰

Of the cash fund, $1.78 billion goes to healthcare facilities and $152 million to medical professionals. The settlement includes structural reforms valued at over $17 billion, with a court-appointed monitoring committee overseeing compliance for five years. Nearly 6,500 providers opted out.²⁰²¹

Facebook: $5 Billion FTC Privacy Penalty

In July 2019, Facebook (now Meta) agreed to pay a $5 billion civil penalty to resolve FTC allegations that it violated a 2012 order and deceived users about the privacy of their personal data. At the time, it was by far the largest FTC penalty ever imposed. The settlement also required Facebook to create an independent privacy committee on its board and submit to oversight by an independent assessor.²²

Equifax Data Breach: $425 Million

The 2017 Equifax data breach, which exposed the personal information of roughly 147 million people, produced a settlement fund of up to $425 million negotiated with the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and all 50 states and territories. The fund covers credit monitoring, out-of-pocket losses, and identity restoration.²³

Final cash payments were distributed between November and December 2024, drawing on the roughly $70 million allocated for alternative compensation, out-of-pocket losses, and time spent on claims.²⁴ Free identity restoration services remain available until January 2029, and affected consumers can request up to seven free Equifax credit reports per year through 2026.²⁵

Recent Record Years: 2025 and 2026

The 10 largest U.S. class action settlements in 2025 totaled $79 billion, the highest aggregate figure in the history of the Duane Morris Class Action Review.²⁶ Beyond the deals already covered, three recent resolutions stand out.

Adobe: $150 Million

In March 2026, Adobe agreed to a $150 million settlement with the Department of Justice, acting on a referral from the FTC, over allegations that the company used “dark patterns” to trap customers in subscriptions. Prosecutors alleged Adobe hid early termination fees in fine print and made cancellation unnecessarily difficult. The settlement splits evenly between $75 million in civil penalties and $75 million in free services. Adobe must now clearly disclose termination fees before enrollment, notify free-trial users before converting them to paid plans, and provide simple cancellation options.²⁷

RealPage Landlord Settlements: Nearly $360 Million

Antitrust litigation over RealPage’s algorithmic rent-pricing software has produced nearly $360 million in landlord settlements as of mid-2026, though RealPage itself paid no financial penalties. The DOJ’s November 2025 settlement with RealPage required the company to stop using one landlord’s nonpublic data to generate pricing recommendations for competitors, with no fines or admissions of guilt.²⁸ Twenty-six landlord agreements worth over $141.8 million were reached in October 2025, including $50 million from Greystar, followed by 14 more totaling $218 million in May 2026, with Equity Residential ($56 million), Camden Property Trust ($53 million), and Mid-America Apartment Communities ($53 million) among the largest.²⁹

Colgate-Palmolive Pension: $332 Million

In August 2025, Colgate-Palmolive reached a $332 million settlement with approximately 1,177 retirees who alleged the company miscalculated their lump-sum pension payments in violation of ERISA. The case, McCutcheon et al. v. Colgate-Palmolive Co., proceeded in the Southern District of New York before Judge Lorna G. Schofield.³⁰³¹³²

1
NC Lawyers Weekly. Visa Mastercard $38 Billion Swipe Fee Settlement Wins US Judges Approval
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Host Merchant Services. Swipe Fee Settlement Case
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Payment Card Settlement. Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement
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Payments Dive. Visa Mastercard Swipe Fee Fund Has Paid $414M
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National Association of Attorneys General. The Master Settlement Agreement
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KFF. Tobacco Settlement Payments
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U.S. Department of the Interior. Historic NRDAR Settlement Reached for Deepwater Horizon Spill
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NOAA. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Settlements Where the Money Went
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U.S. Department of Justice. Volkswagen to Spend Up to $14.7 Billion to Settle Allegations
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Volkswagen Clean Air Act Civil Settlement
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Federal Trade Commission. FTC Reports Volkswagen Repaid More Than $9.5 Billion to Car Buyers
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Minnesota Attorney General. Purdue Sackler $7.4 Billion National Opioid Settlement Goes Into Effect
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Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. Purdue Sackler $7.4 Billion National Opioid Settlement Goes Into Effect
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Maryland Office of the Attorney General. Purdue Sackler $7.4 Billion Opioid Settlement to Go Into Effect
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Michigan Attorney General. Purdue Sackler Opioid Settlement Goes Into Effect
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Fierce Healthcare. Court Approves $700M Prescription Opioid Class Action Settlement for Acute Care Hospitals
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Androvett Legal Media. Acute Care Hospitals Reach $700 Million Settlement in Opioid Epidemic Class Action
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Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse. Top Ten Largest Securities Class Action Settlements
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Berman Tabacco. Top 100 U.S. Class Action Settlements of All Time
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Becker’s Payer Issues. Judge Approves $2.8 Billion BCBS Settlement With Providers
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Podhurst Orseck. Federal Court Grants Final Approval of $2.8 Billion Settlement in Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litigation
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U.S. Department of Justice. Facebook Agrees to Pay $5 Billion and Implement Robust New Protections for User Information
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Federal Trade Commission. Equifax Data Breach Settlement
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Equifax. Equifax Statement on Settlement Administrator Distributing Final Payments
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Equifax Settlement
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CFO Dive. Top US Class Action Settlements Hit Record $79B
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U.S. Department of Justice. Adobe Agrees to $150 Million Settlement and Injunction
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Nevada Current. Trump DOJ Settles Apartment Price Fixing Case With RealPage
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Multifamily Dive. RealPage Settlement Algorithmic Pricing
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Bloomberg Tax. Colgate-Palmolive Strikes Pension Class Deal Worth $332 Million
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Colgate Pension Class Action. Settlement Terms
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Law360. Retirees Attys Get $99M Cut of Colgate-Palmolive ERISA Deal