FedEx customers who paid duties, tariffs or related brokerage charges on imports under the 2025–2026 IEEPA tariffs may be covered by proposed class actions alleging FedEx charged and kept tariff-related fees it had no lawful right to collect. No class has been certified and there is nothing to file yet.
Allegations Only · No Settlement Yet
This article describes class action complaints. The statements below are unproven allegations. FedEx has not been found liable, there is no certified class, and nothing to claim in the lawsuit at this time. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Is This About?
FedEx faces 13 proposed class actions over the duties and tariff-related charges it billed customers on imported shipments, and a federal judge in Memphis has combined them into one case, In re FedEx Tariff Litigation, No. 2:26-cv-02181-TLP, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. The defendants are FedEx Corporation, Federal Express Corporation and FedEx Logistics. The first suit was filed on February 20, 2026, the same day the Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize tariffs.These cases differ from most consumer tariff suits. Instead of arguing that a retailer folded tariffs into its shelf prices, they target the duties, tariffs and brokerage-related fees FedEx billed directly as a carrier and customs broker. FedEx has not been found liable, no class has been certified, and there is nothing to claim in the lawsuit. Separately, FedEx has said it is passing refunds it receives from the government back to the customers who paid.
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What FedEx Says About Refunds
FedEx has said it will hand refunds of IEEPA duties back to the customers who paid them. “If CBP issues refunds to FedEx, it will in turn issue those refunds to shippers and consumers who paid those charges,” CNBC reported in April 2026. According to Supply Chain Dive, FedEx began receiving government refunds on May 11, 2026, said it would start disbursing refunds to customers around August 10, and planned an online portal where customers can check whether a refund for a shipment has been received and its value. FedEx said customers who agree to share limited shipment and refund data with its vendor partners would be prioritized, and that customers who decline “will still receive refunds, though on a longer timeline.”At the end of its fiscal fourth quarter, FedEx had about $800 million in IEEPA tariff refunds slated to go back to customers, and it said it was managing more than 20 million entries with IEEPA duties across hundreds of thousands of accounts, Supply Chain Dive reported. The refunds cover only IEEPA duties; tariffs under other laws, such as Section 232 and Section 301, remain in place. The refund program is FedEx’s own and is not part of the lawsuit. OCA has not independently confirmed how many refunds have been paid to date.
What the Lawsuits Allege
The first complaint says FedEx, acting as a common carrier and customs broker, routinely charged customers “duties,” “tariffs” and related surcharges on imported shipments, and that the end of the de minimis exemption for low-value imports in August 2025 made every shipment subject to duties and fees. It alleges that FedEx’s shipping terms allow it to pass through only lawful duties actually owed, so charging and keeping IEEPA tariff charges after the Supreme Court’s ruling breached those contracts and the implied covenant of good faith, and unjustly enriched FedEx. It asks for refunds of the tariff charges and related brokerage fees, damages and restitution.The complaint proposes a nationwide class of all FedEx customers who were assessed fees, surcharges, duties or other tariff-related amounts imposed under the IEEPA tariffs. These are allegations. FedEx has not responded to the substance of the claims, and no court has decided them.
How the Cases Were Combined
By late May 2026, 13 related suits were pending in the Western District of Tennessee. On June 1, 2026, Chief Judge Sheryl H. Lipman granted an unopposed motion to consolidate them, renamed the case In re FedEx Tariff Litigation and assigned it to U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Parker. Under the consolidation order, FedEx does not have to respond to any individual complaint; the plaintiffs file one consolidated complaint, and FedEx answers or moves to dismiss that.Several groups of plaintiffs’ lawyers competed to lead the case, and on September 11, 2026, Judge Parker entered an order appointing interim class counsel. On October 29, 2026, interim lead counsel J. Gerard Stranch IV of Stranch, Jennings & Garvey asked the court, with FedEx not opposing, to set November 4, 2026 for the consolidated complaint and December 4, 2026 for FedEx’s response; the docket records an order on that request on October 30.
What Happens Next?
The consolidated complaint will choose which legal theories go forward on behalf of all the named plaintiffs. FedEx can then answer it or move to dismiss. Class certification, if the case gets that far, would come later. A separate group of retailer tariff cases is the subject of a request to centralize them in Chicago; the FedEx cases are already combined in Memphis. OCA tracks every consumer tariff refund suit on its tariff class actions page.Questions
What are the FedEx tariff refund lawsuits about?
Thirteen proposed class actions, now combined as In re FedEx Tariff Litigation in federal court in Memphis, allege that FedEx charged customers duties, tariffs and related fees under tariffs imposed through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the Supreme Court ruled unlawful on February 20, 2026, and kept money it had no right to collect. FedEx has not been found liable, and the allegations are unproven.
Is FedEx refunding tariffs to customers?
FedEx has said it will pass IEEPA duty refunds it receives from the government to the customers who paid those charges. According to Supply Chain Dive, FedEx said it would begin sending refunds around August 10, 2026, launched an online tool for customers to check whether a refund for a shipment has been received, and had about $800 million in refunds slated to go back to customers as of the end of its fiscal fourth quarter. That program is run by FedEx and is separate from the lawsuit.
Who could be covered by the FedEx tariff class action?
The first complaint proposes a nationwide class of all FedEx customers who were assessed fees, surcharges, duties or other tariff-related amounts imposed under the IEEPA tariffs. The plaintiffs are due to file a consolidated complaint that will set out the claims going forward. No class has been certified.
Is there a FedEx tariff class action settlement or claim form?
No. There is no settlement, claim form or deadline in the lawsuit. The case is at the pleading stage, with a consolidated complaint expected in November 2026 and FedEx’s response due after that.
Why are the FedEx tariff cases in Memphis?
FedEx is headquartered in Memphis, and 13 of the suits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. On June 1, 2026, the court consolidated them, with the agreement of the parties, under the first-filed case, No. 2:26-cv-02181.
Sources
• Court docket, In re FedEx Tariff Litigation, No. 2:26-cv-02181-TLP (W.D. Tenn.), including the June 1, 2026 consolidation order (Dkt. 20), the September 11, 2026 order appointing interim class counsel (Dkt. 36) and the October 29, 2026 scheduling motion (Dkt. 39)• Class action complaint, Anastopoulo v. FedEx Corp., No. 2:26-cv-02181 (W.D. Tenn., filed February 20, 2026)
• “FedEx to send tariff refunds to customers starting in August”, Supply Chain Dive, June 25, 2026
• “FedEx, UPS and DHL detail tariff refund approach for customers”, Supply Chain Dive, April 21, 2026
• “UPS and FedEx have begun filing for some tariff refunds”, CNBC, April 21, 2026
• Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, No. 24-1287 (U.S. February 20, 2026)
