Published
April 2, 2026
Updated
August 15, 2026
This proposed $17 million Kroger settlement concerns alleged prescription copay overcharges for insured pharmacy customers; the court had not opened a claim process when this report was published.
What Is This Settlement About?
The lawsuit, Kirkbride et al. v. The Kroger Co., alleges that Kroger reported inflated "usual and customary" prices for prescription drugs to insurance companies. When an insured customer fills a prescription, the insurance company uses the pharmacy's reported usual and customary price to calculate how much the customer owes as a copay. The lower the pharmacy's reported price, the lower the customer's copay.The plaintiffs allege that Kroger had a separate discount program -- the Rx Savings Club -- that offered lower prices to cash-paying customers. But instead of reporting those lower prices as its usual and customary prices, Kroger allegedly reported its higher retail prices. The result: insured customers paid higher copays than they should have, because the copay was calculated based on an inflated number.
The lawsuit asserts claims for fraud, unjust enrichment, and negligent misrepresentation. Kroger denies all allegations but agreed to settle to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continued litigation. Plaintiffs' experts identified overcharges across a dataset of over 158 million pharmacy transactions from Kroger's own records.
Status
Proposed settlement
Court approval was requested
Settlement Fund
$17 million
Proposed non-reversionary fund
Can I Claim?
Not yet
No claim form was available when reported
Claims Are Now Open
This report was published before the claims process existed. That has since changed: the Court granted preliminary approval, Angeion Group was appointed as Settlement Administrator, and the official claims process opened at krogersavingsclubsettlement.com. Claim Forms are due December 21, 2026, and the exclusion and objection deadline is October 22, 2026. A Fairness Hearing is scheduled for January 11, 2027.Nothing is paid automatically — the notice states that submitting a valid Claim Form is the only way to receive a payment. For the current eligibility rules, the documentation requirements, and how the pro rata payment is calculated, see our full settlement page: Kroger $17M Prescription Drug Pricing Settlement.
Who Qualifies?
You may qualify if you paid in whole or in part for one or more prescription drugs from a Kroger pharmacy using your insurance between December 9, 2018 and the date class notice is distributed. This means if you used your health insurance at any Kroger pharmacy and paid a copay during this period, you could be a class member.Kroger operates pharmacies under multiple banners, including Kroger, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Fry's, QFC, Smith's, Dillons, Pay-Less, and others. If your pharmacy was part of the Kroger family and you used insurance to pay for prescriptions, the settlement could apply to you.
How Much Could Each Person Get?
Individual payout amounts have not been determined. Payments will be calculated on a pro rata basis, meaning your share depends on how much you were overcharged relative to other class members. The more qualifying prescriptions you filled during the class period, the higher your potential payout.The $17 million fund is non-reversionary, meaning unclaimed money will not go back to Kroger. Attorneys' fees, litigation expenses, service awards, and administration costs will be deducted before distribution. The specific fee requests have not been publicly disclosed yet.
Given the potentially massive class size -- Kroger is one of the largest pharmacy operators in the country and the dataset covers 158 million transactions -- individual payouts may be modest. But frequent Kroger pharmacy customers who filled many insured prescriptions over the seven-plus year class period could see meaningful amounts.
What Should You Do Right Now?
If you used insurance at a Kroger pharmacy since December 2018, hold onto any records you have -- pharmacy receipts, insurance explanation of benefits statements, or prescription history printouts. These could help support your claim when the process opens.In many pharmacy settlements, the administrator uses company records to verify claims, so you may not need to provide your own documentation. But having your own records is always useful as a backup.
Watch for official notice from the court. When the settlement is approved, a settlement website will be created, class members will be notified (likely by mail and email), and a claim form will be published with a specific deadline. OpenClassActions.com will publish a full settlement page with claim form links when the process opens.
Sources
• Motion for Preliminary Approval, Kirkbride et al. v. The Kroger Co. (Ohio federal court, filed March 13, 2026)About This Article
The Kroger prescription drug settlement is pending court approval. There is no claim form, no settlement website, and no deadline at this time. If approved, eligible class members will be notified through the court system. OpenClassActions.com will update this page when claims open. OpenClassActions.com is a consumer advocacy and class action news site, and is not a class action administrator or a law firm.Free settlement alerts
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Status
Proposed settlement
Case Title
Kirkbride et al. v. The Kroger Co.
Court
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio
Settlement Fund
$17 million
Claim Form
Not available when reported
