Published
September 4, 2026
U.S. citizens who bought non-prescription Costa Del Mar sunglasses before January 1, 2016 and paid Costa a warranty fee to repair or replace them for a manufacturer's defect between August 20, 2013 and February 29, 2020 will be paid automatically from Costa's repair records; there is no claim form to file. October 8, 2026 is the deadline to opt out or object, and the final approval hearing is set for January 20, 2027.
Current Status
There is no claim form in this settlement and no claim deadline. Costa Del Mar, Inc. has agreed to fund a $4,095,000 Settlement Fund, and every Settlement Class Member who does nothing is scheduled to receive a pro rata cash payment for each eligible warranty repair. The only dates that require action are the exclusion and objection deadlines, both October 8, 2026; the notice gives them as calendar dates and does not specify a timezone.The settlement is not final. The Court has authorized notice to the class, and Judge Robert M. Dees of the Circuit Court, Fourth Judicial Circuit, of Duval County, Florida has set the Final Approval Hearing for January 20, 2027 at 9:30 a.m. in Jacksonville. No final approval order had been entered and no payment date had been announced as of September 4, 2026. Costa denies that it violated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and denies any wrongdoing or liability, and the Court has not decided the merits of the claims or of Costa's defenses.
Status
Pending Final Approval
Opt-Out Deadline
October 8, 2026
Also the objection deadline · no claim deadline exists
Estimated Payout
Pro rata share of $4.095M
Paid per qualifying warranty repair · no per-person figure published
Proof Required
Automatic Payment
No claim form to file — payment is issued automatically
What Changed Recently?
This lawsuit is older than its case number suggests. The same Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act claim was filed against Costa in federal court in August 2018, the parties settled it there, and the Eleventh Circuit vacated that approval. The federal case was then dismissed on jurisdictional grounds on June 17, 2025, which left the claim alive but the settlement gone. The plaintiff re-filed an identical complaint in Florida state court on July 24, 2025, Costa answered in January 2026, and after a third mediation session the parties reached terms on April 2, 2026.What is new now is that the deal has become real for class members: a court-authorized notice, a settlement website, an October 8, 2026 exclusion and objection deadline, and a January 20, 2027 Final Approval Hearing. If you received a Costa notice years ago under the vacated federal settlement, that deal is no longer in effect and this is a different agreement with different terms.
It is also not the only live Costa settlement. A separate $23.9 million agreement in Reed v. Costa Del Mar, Inc. is pending in federal court over a different fee — what Costa charged to fix sunglasses damaged by accident, normal wear and tear or misuse. The two cases were resolved together as a global deal, but they have separate funds, separate classes and separate deadlines, and one person can be covered by both. See our page on the Costa Del Mar $23.9M sunglasses repair fee settlement for that one.
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Who Qualifies?
You are a Settlement Class Member if you are a citizen of the United States who bought a pair of non-prescription Costa sunglasses before January 1, 2016, and who paid Costa a warranty fee to repair or replace those sunglasses for damage caused by a manufacturer's defect between August 20, 2013 and February 29, 2020.Both halves have to be true. Sunglasses bought on or after January 1, 2016 are outside the class, and so is a warranty repair paid for before August 20, 2013 or after February 29, 2020. Prescription pairs do not count. The class is nationwide and is not limited to Florida residents.
The kind of damage matters as much as the dates. This settlement covers repairs of damage Costa attributed to a manufacturer's defect — the repairs its "Lifetime Warranty" was supposed to cover. Repairs of damage from accident, normal wear and tear or misuse belong to the separate Reed settlement instead.
Excluded from the class are Costa itself, any entity or division it controls, their legal representatives, employees, officers, directors, assigns and successors, the judge and the judge's staff assigned to the lawsuit, and counsel for the parties.
How Much Can You Get?
No per-person or per-repair dollar figure has been published, and the arithmetic that would produce one is not finished. Payments are pro rata: the Settlement Administrator first pays Attorneys' Fees and Expenses and settlement administration costs out of the $4,095,000 fund, then divides what is left into equal shares, one share per qualifying repair. Costa's repair data assigns a unique RI number to each pair submitted for a warranty repair, and each unique RI number is one share.Two published figures give a rough sense of scale, and both come with caveats. Class Counsel will ask the Court to award $1,200,000 in Attorneys' Fees and Expenses, and the Court may award less. The notice also states that Costa performed approximately 909,685 warranty repairs during the class period. If the full fee request is granted, roughly $2.9 million would remain before administration costs, which spread across all 909,685 repairs would be about $3 each.
Treat that as an illustration rather than an estimate of your payment. The 909,685 figure counts every warranty repair Costa performed in the period, including repairs on sunglasses bought on or after January 1, 2016, which are not in the class. Because the number of qualifying repairs is smaller than 909,685, the actual per-repair share should be higher — by how much is not something the published materials answer. For reference, the fee the lawsuit says Costa should never have charged was $11.95 plus tax per repair, and that figure is the ceiling the claim was worth, not the amount the settlement pays.
Payments that are never cashed or claimed within 60 days after the distribution date are voided. If at least $150,000 remains at that point, a second distribution goes to the class members who took the first one, so long as the remainder covers the administrator's costs for a second round and leaves each of them at least $1. Whatever survives both rounds goes to Captains for Clean Water, a cy pres recipient rather than a reversion to Costa, subject to Court approval.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
Nothing is required to be paid. This is an automatic-payment settlement: the Settlement Administrator builds the class list from Costa's own repair records, so there is no documentation to submit, no receipts to find, and no code you have to enter to secure your share.There is one optional step. The official settlement website has a Submit Payment Selection page where you can choose whether to be paid by paper check, Venmo, PayPal or Zelle. Skipping it does not cost you the payment — a class member who selects nothing is paid by paper check.
One thing genuinely is your responsibility: keeping your contact details current. If your mailing address or email address has changed since you sent Costa the warranty repair, tell the Settlement Administrator through the official settlement website so the payment reaches you.
What Are the Deadlines?
There is no claim deadline, because there is no claim. The deadlines that exist are for class members who want out of the settlement, or who want to tell the Court they disagree with it.To exclude yourself, a written, personally signed request naming the case and giving your name and address has to be mailed to the Settlement Administrator and postmarked by October 8, 2026. Exclusion cannot be done by telephone or email, and group or "mass" requests filed by a third party on behalf of multiple class members are void unless each person signed individually. Our explainer on opting out of a class action covers what that choice costs and preserves.
To object, a written objection has to be filed with the Court by October 8, 2026 and mailed to Class Counsel and Costa's counsel, postmarked by the same date. It must give the case name and number, your full name, mailing address and telephone number, the name and contact details of your lawyer if you have one, the basis for the objection, and whether you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing. If you want to speak at the hearing, a Notice of Intention to Appear is due by that date too, along with copies of anything you plan to present.
Objecting and excluding yourself are mutually exclusive — you can only object if you stay in the class — and an objector still receives the automatic payment. The notice gives all of these as calendar dates and specifies no timezone, so no time-of-day cutoff is published.
How Do You Take Action?
For most class members the answer is that no action is needed. Doing nothing keeps you in the Settlement Class and you are paid automatically after the Court approves the settlement and it becomes final. Doing nothing also means giving up the right to sue Costa or the Released Parties over the claims the settlement releases, which are described in Section 9 of the Settlement Agreement and reach EssilorLuxottica and its subsidiaries as well as Costa.If you want to pick your payment method, or you need to update the contact details the Administrator has for you, both are handled at the official settlement website:
Costa Sunglass Warranty Settlement — official settlement website
The Settlement Agreement, the class notice, the complaint, the preliminary approval order and Class Counsel's application for Attorneys' Fees and Expenses are all posted on the Documents page of that site. Filing on an official settlement website is always free.
What Happens Next?
The next milestone is the Final Approval Hearing on January 20, 2027 at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Robert M. Dees at the Fourth Judicial Circuit Courthouse in Jacksonville. At that hearing the Court will consider whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, will rule on Class Counsel's fee request, and will hear from any objectors who filed on time and asked to speak.The notice cautions that the hearing date and time can change without further notice to the class, and that the Court may hold it by video conference or telephone, so the settlement website is the place to confirm it. You are not required to attend, and an objection filed on time is considered whether or not you show up.
If the Court grants final approval, payments go out within 37 days of the Effective Date, which arrives only after the judgment becomes final — an appeal can push that back by months. No payment date has been announced. A hearing being scheduled is not approval, and approval would not by itself mean payments have been released.
One other exit exists that most settlements do not advertise. Costa can walk away from the deal at its own discretion if 5% or more of the class opts out, in which case the settlement is vacated and the lawsuit returns to where it was.
Sources and Verification
This page is built from the official court-approved settlement website, the class notice and the Settlement Agreement posted on it, plus the published appellate decision in the related federal case:- Official settlement website — home page, Frequently Asked Questions and Documents page, administered by Epiq Class Action & Claims Solutions.
- Official class notice for Smith v. Costa Del Mar, Inc., Case No. 16-2025-CA-004472 — embedded in full below.
- Class Action Settlement Agreement and Limited Release in Smith v. Costa Del Mar, Inc. — the source for the distribution mechanics, the release, the cy pres recipient and Costa's 5% opt-out termination right.
- The docket in Smith v. Costa Del Mar, Inc., Case No. 16-2025-CA-004472, Circuit Court, Fourth Judicial Circuit, of Duval County, Florida.
- Smith v. Miorelli, 93 F.4th 1206 (11th Cir. 2024) — the decision vacating approval of the earlier combined Costa settlement.
Questions
Is this the same as the $23.9 million Costa Del Mar sunglasses repair fee settlement?
No. These are two separate Costa settlements running at the same time, and they cover different repairs. This one, Smith v. Costa Del Mar, Inc., covers the warranty fee Costa charged to fix sunglasses damaged by a manufacturer's defect, and its class is nationwide. The $23.9 million settlement in Reed v. Costa Del Mar, Inc. covers repairs of damage from accident, normal wear and tear, or misuse where Costa charged more than $11.95, and it excludes Florida residents. Different courts, different funds, different deadlines. A person who paid Costa for both kinds of repair can be a class member in both.
Do I have to do anything to be paid in the Costa warranty fee settlement?
No. There is no claim form and no claim deadline. The Settlement Administrator identifies the class from Costa's own repair records, so a Settlement Class Member who does nothing is paid automatically once the Settlement is approved and becomes final. The only optional step is choosing how you are paid — paper check, Venmo, PayPal or Zelle — on the official settlement website. Class members who do not choose are paid by paper check.
What if I paid Costa for more than one warranty repair?
You are paid once for each qualifying repair. Costa's repair data assigns a unique RI number to each pair of sunglasses submitted for a warranty repair, and the Settlement Agreement pays one pro rata share per unique RI number. A class member with three qualifying repairs is paid three times.
Can I object to the Costa settlement and still receive a payment?
Yes. Objecting means telling the Court you disagree with the settlement while staying in the Settlement Class, so an objector is still paid automatically and is still bound by the settlement if the Court approves it. Excluding yourself is the opposite choice: it keeps your right to sue Costa separately and forfeits the payment. You cannot do both.
What happens to money left over after the Costa warranty settlement payments go out?
Payments that are never cashed or claimed within 60 days are voided. If at least $150,000 is left in the Settlement Fund after that, a second distribution goes to the class members who took the first one, provided the remainder covers the administrator's costs and gives each of them at least $1. Anything still left after the second round goes to Captains for Clean Water, a cy pres recipient, subject to Court approval.
Official Settlement Notice
For more class actions keep scrolling below.
Settlement Amount
$4,095,000
Case Title
Smith v. Costa Del Mar, Inc.
Case Number
16-2025-CA-004472
Court
Circuit Court, Fourth Judicial Circuit, Duval County, Florida
Final Approval Hearing
January 20, 2027 at 9:30 AM
Before Judge Robert M. Dees in Jacksonville · date and time subject to change
Administrator
Epiq Class Action & Claims Solutions
Official Website
Costa Sunglass Warranty Settlement.com
