Published
September 19, 2026
Consumers who bought recalled scented Pine-Sol cleaners are being paid through two channels after the October 2022 recall: Clorox refund checks and the $5.65 million class action settlement, which produced a confirmed $4.46 virtual prepaid card payment on September 19, 2026. A $14.15 million federal civil penalty announced in January 2026 goes to the U.S. government, and only the recall refund is still open to new requests.
What the Pine-Sol Recall Was About
In October 2022, Clorox and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a recall of about 37 million bottles of scented Pine-Sol. Testing had found bacteria in some of the product, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an organism common in soil and water that can cause serious infections in people with weakened immune systems or external medical devices. The recalled bottles were made between January 2021 and September 2022. Original Pine scent Pine-Sol was never part of the recall.Nearly four years later, readers still ask the same question: did anyone actually get paid? The short answer is yes, and the settlement money is still landing: Open Class Actions confirmed a $4.46 virtual prepaid card payment from the class action on September 19, 2026. The longer answer is that the recall produced three separate streams of money, and only two of them went to consumers. The class action was resolved as Swetz v. The Clorox Company, Case No. 7:22-cv-09374-PMH, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, together with two related cases. The federal penalty came out of a separate CPSC enforcement matter that closed in 2026.
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Status
Payments in Progress · Recall Refund Still Open
$4.46 settlement payment confirmed September 19, 2026 · Clorox refund form still accepting requests
Class Action Settlement
$5.65 Million Fund
$3.57 per product without proof, up to two · full refund with proof · claims closed February 7, 2024
CPSC Civil Penalty
$14.15 Million
announced January 27, 2026 · paid to the U.S. government, not to consumers
Can I Claim?
Only the recall refund
requires a recalled bottle in hand · photo of the UPC and date code
Did People Get Paid From the Pine-Sol Recall?
Yes. Money moved through three channels:• Recall refunds. Clorox has been mailing refund checks directly to consumers since late October 2022, and the refund program is still listed as active.
• The $5.65 million class action settlement. The court granted final approval in May 2024, and payments are reaching claimants: a $4.46 virtual prepaid card was confirmed on September 19, 2026. Claims are closed.
• The $14.15 million federal civil penalty. Announced in January 2026, this money goes to the U.S. government, not to consumers.
Payout One: Recall Refund Checks From Clorox
The recall remedy was a refund, not a replacement. Under the CPSC notice, consumers were told to stop using the product, photograph the UPC and the date code, dispose of the bottle in its container, and request a refund. With a receipt, the refund is the full purchase price. Without a receipt, it is the manufacturer's suggested retail price. Pine-Sol's recall page tells claimants to expect a check for the cost of the product plus approximate tax within about 4 to 6 weeks.The recalled bottles sold for roughly $2.50 to $12.50, so an individual refund is small. Households and businesses that stocked several large CloroxPro jugs could claim more.
Clorox has not published a total for how many refund checks it issued or how much it paid out through the recall. What is public is that the refund request form was still live and accepting submissions when Open Class Actions checked it on September 19, 2026, with the offer code PSRECALLUS listed as valid through December 31, 2026. Eligibility details, the product list and the filing link are on our Pine-Sol recall refund page.
Payout Two: The $5.65 Million Class Action Settlement
Within days of the recall, consumers sued. Three cases were resolved together: Swetz v. The Clorox Company and Kossel v. The Clorox Company in the Southern District of New York, and Charles v. The Clorox Company in the Northern District of California. The lawsuits alleged that the recalled products were not fit for their advertised use and that Clorox breached its warranties and state consumer protection laws. Clorox denied the allegations and any liability, and agreed to a $5.65 million non-reversionary settlement fund to resolve the economic claims.The class covered anyone in the United States who bought the scented products for household use between November 1, 2018 and November 15, 2023. That is a far wider window than the recall itself. Claimants with proof of purchase could get a full refund of the documented amount. Claimants with no proof could get $3.57 per product, the average retail price during the class period, for up to two products, or $7.14 per household. Anyone who had already been refunded through the recall could not be paid a second time for the same bottle, but could still claim for bottles the recall had not refunded.
Here is how the case moved from deal to dollars:
• November 15, 2023: preliminary approval. Under the settlement agreement, Clorox was required to deposit the full $5.65 million within seven days of that order.
• February 7, 2024: claim deadline.
• May 22, 2024: final approval hearing before Judge Philip M. Halpern in White Plains, New York. No class member objected to the fee request.
• Late August 2024: consumer reports of Pine-Sol settlement checks began to circulate.
• September 19, 2026: Open Class Actions confirmed a $4.46 virtual prepaid card payment on a one-bottle, no-receipt claim.
The same day as final approval, the court awarded class counsel $1,883,145 in attorneys' fees and $29,175.16 in litigation costs, plus $1,000 service awards to each of the five class representatives. That left roughly $3.7 million for claimants and administration costs. Class counsel were The Sultzer Law Group, Levin Sedran & Berman, Leeds Brown Law and Squitieri & Fearon; Angeion Group administered the claims.
Claims are closed and no new claims are accepted; payments to approved claimants are in progress. Our original coverage is archived on the Pine-Sol settlement page.
What the Pine-Sol Settlement Payment Looks Like
The confirmed payment arrived on September 19, 2026 as an email notice reading "You've Received a Virtual Prepaid Card! $4.46," for a claim that covered one bottle with no receipt. It is a digital prepaid card, not a paper check, so it does not come in the mail.
If you filed a claim and have not seen a payment, check the inbox and spam folder of the email address on your claim form, since a virtual card notice is easy to mistake for marketing, and read the notice for its activation deadline. The official settlement website, run by Angeion Group, is the authoritative source for claim and payment status. Open Class Actions is not the settlement administrator and cannot look up, release or reissue a payment.
Payout Three: The $14.15 Million Federal Penalty
On January 27, 2026, the CPSC announced that Clorox had agreed to pay a $14.15 million civil penalty. The agency charged that Clorox knowingly failed to immediately report the Pine-Sol defect to the Commission, as federal law requires of a manufacturer that learns its product may contain a defect that could create a substantial product hazard.According to the CPSC, Clorox microbiologists wrote a report in early 2019 documenting bacterial contamination in storage tanks and finished product, which they described as possibly a Pseudomonad. Clorox later received reports of cloudy product in retail stores and a report from a distributor about cloudy product that had shipped to multiple locations. The agency says the company took steps to reduce contamination but did not report to the Commission. The public recall did not come until October 2022.
The settlement agreement, which Clorox entered without admitting the CPSC's charges, also requires the company to maintain internal controls designed to ensure compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act, strengthen its compliance program, and file annual reports on the program and its internal audits. The Commission provisionally accepted the agreement and published it in the Federal Register on January 27, 2026, with a public comment deadline of February 11, 2026.
None of this money goes to consumers. Civil penalties are paid to the United States. The penalty does not create a new claim, a new refund or a new deadline.
Can I Still Get Money From the Pine-Sol Recall?
Only through the recall refund, and only if you still have the bottle. To qualify, all of the following must be true:• The product is a scented Pine-Sol Multi-Surface Cleaner, a CloroxPro Pine-Sol All Purpose Cleaner, or Clorox Professional Pine-Sol Lemon Fresh.
• The UPC appears on the recall list.
• The date code printed near the top of the bottle begins with A4 and the next five digits are 22249 or lower.
Pine-Sol states that if you already used or threw away the product, it cannot confirm the bottle was part of the recall. After this long, that rules out most households. The people most likely to still qualify are those with an old jug in a garage, a supply closet or a janitorial stockroom.
If that is you, stop using it, photograph the UPC and date code, and file through the official recall site linked on our Pine-Sol recall refund page.
Pine-Sol Recall Money at a Glance
| Money Source | How Much | Who Received It | Where It Stands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recall refund | Purchase price with a receipt, or retail price without one | Consumers with a recalled bottle | Refund form verified active September 19, 2026 |
| Class action settlement | $5.65 million fund | Buyers from November 2018 to November 2023 who filed by February 7, 2024 | Closed; payments in progress ($4.46 confirmed September 19, 2026) |
| CPSC civil penalty | $14.15 million | U.S. government | Announced January 2026 |
Questions
Did the Pine-Sol class action settlement pay out?
Yes. Judge Philip M. Halpern granted final approval and awarded attorneys' fees on May 22, 2024, and Open Class Actions confirmed a $4.46 virtual prepaid card payment for a one-bottle, no-receipt claim on September 19, 2026. That is 125 percent of the $3.57 base amount, consistent with a pro rata increase from the non-reversionary fund. Claimants without receipts were eligible for $3.57 per product for up to two products; claimants with proof of purchase were eligible for a full refund of the documented amount.
I never filed a Pine-Sol settlement claim. Can I still get money?
No. The claim deadline was February 7, 2024, the fund was distributed after final approval, and the settlement cannot be reopened. The only Pine-Sol money still available is the recall refund, which requires a recalled bottle in hand.
Does the $14.15 million Clorox penalty mean a new payout for consumers?
No. The $14.15 million is a civil penalty paid to the U.S. Treasury to resolve the Consumer Product Safety Commission's charge that Clorox failed to immediately report the Pine-Sol defect. It does not create a new claim, a new refund program or a new deadline, and no part of it is distributed to consumers.
Is Pine-Sol safe to use now?
The recall covers only scented Pine-Sol, CloroxPro Pine-Sol and Clorox Professional Pine-Sol products made between January 2021 and September 2022, identified by a date code beginning with A4 whose next five digits are 22249 or lower. Original Pine scent Pine-Sol was never recalled. Bottles made after the recall window are not part of the recall.
Were there any injuries from the recalled Pine-Sol?
The CPSC recall notice reported no incidents or injuries at the time of the October 2022 recall. The bacteria involved, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, pose the greatest risk to people with weakened immune systems or external medical devices. The class action settlement covered only economic claims and expressly carved out any personal-injury claims.
Sources
• Payment confirmation reviewed by Open Class Actions: virtual prepaid card notice for $4.46 on a one-bottle, no-receipt Pine-Sol settlement claim, received September 19, 2026• CPSC recall notice 23-022 — Clorox Recalls Pine-Sol Scented Multi-Surface Cleaners (October 25, 2022)
• CPSC civil penalty announcement — Clorox Agrees to Pay $14.15 Million Civil Penalty (January 27, 2026)
• Federal Register notice 2026-01545 — Proposed Settlement Agreement, Stipulation, Order and Judgment; The Clorox Company
• Swetz v. The Clorox Company — Order Granting Plaintiffs' Motion for Attorneys' Fees, Costs and Service Awards (S.D.N.Y. May 22, 2024)
• Class Action Settlement Agreement and Release and Plaintiffs' Motion for Attorneys' Fees, Litigation Costs and Service Award, Swetz v. The Clorox Company, No. 7:22-cv-09374-PMH (ECF Nos. 33-1 and 36)
• Pine-Sol Settlement website — official settlement site administered by Angeion Group
• Pine-Sol recall page — official Clorox recall and refund information
Case Information
Swetz v. The Clorox Company, Case No. 7:22-cv-09374-PMH, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Related actions: Kossel v. The Clorox Company, Case No. 7:22-cv-10450-PMH (S.D.N.Y.), and Charles v. The Clorox Company, Case No. 4:22-cv-06855-HSG (N.D. Cal.). Class counsel: The Sultzer Law Group, Levin Sedran & Berman, Leeds Brown Law and Squitieri & Fearon. Settlement administrator: Angeion Group. CPSC recall number 23-022. CPSC settlement agreement docket 26-C0001.
For more recalls and class actions keep scrolling below.
Status
Payments in progress · recall refund open
claims closed February 7, 2024 · $4.46 payment confirmed September 19, 2026
Settlement Amount
$5.65 million non-reversionary fund
Case Title
Swetz v. The Clorox Company
Case Number
7:22-cv-09374-PMH
Court
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Date Filed
November 1, 2022
Final Approval Hearing
May 22, 2024
final approval and fee award entered the same day
Administrator
Angeion Group
Official Website
PS Settlement.com
