Published
August 16, 2026
This settlement resolves claims over two cyberattacks on Americold, the cold-storage and logistics company, that reached the personal information of current and former employees and job applicants. If Americold notified you about the 2020 or the 2023 data incident, you can claim an estimated $200 or $100 in cash, up to $25,000 in documented losses, and three years of credit monitoring.
Current Status
Claims are open. The deadline to file is October 22, 2026, and the Notice states that date without a cutoff time or timezone, so do not assume one. The court granted preliminary approval and authorized notice, but it has not ruled on final approval: the Final Approval Hearing is scheduled for October 6, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. No payment date had been announced as of August 16, 2026. If Americold sent you a notice about either data incident, file now rather than waiting on the hearing.
Status
Claims Open
Final approval hearing set for October 6, 2026 · no ruling yet
Claim Deadline
October 22, 2026
Online submissions and mailed forms postmarked by that date · the deadline falls after the approval hearing, which is unusual
Estimated Payout
$200 or $100 · plus up to $25,000
Residual Cash estimated at $200 if you were notified of both incidents, $100 if only one · and/or documented losses up to $25,000 · plus 3 years of credit monitoring with $1M in identity theft protection · $5.25M fund · all cash is pro rata
Proof Required
Yes
The claim form requires the Class Member ID from your notice · receipts, statements or similar records also needed for the documented-loss tier
What Changed Recently?
The court granted preliminary approval of the settlement in Lamont Bracy, et al. v. Americold Logistics, LLC, Case No. 1:23-cv-05743-TWT, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, and the claim process is now open through the settlement administrator, Kroll Settlement Administration. Americold Realty Trust and Americold Logistics, LLC have agreed to pay $5,250,000 into a settlement fund if the court approves the deal.The case reached this point after a contested round of motion practice. On February 19, 2025, Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. ruled on Americold's motion to dismiss, granting it as to four of the counts and denying it as to three, which left part of the case alive and headed toward either trial or a negotiated resolution.
Americold denies all allegations of liability and wrongdoing, and the court has not decided in favor of either side. The Notice states that the parties agreed to settle to avoid the costs and risks of a trial.
Who Qualifies?
The settlement class is all persons in the United States who were notified by Americold that their private information was impacted in the data incidents. In practice, if you received a notice from Americold about either the 2020 incident or the 2023 incident, you are a class member, and the Notice states that Americold's records are what identify you as one.The people affected were current and former employees and job applicants rather than retail customers, which makes this a narrower class than most consumer data breach settlements. It is nationwide and is not limited to Georgia, even though the case is pending in Atlanta.
Excluded from the class are Americold, any entity in which Americold has a controlling interest, and Americold's officers, directors, legal representatives, successors, subsidiaries and assigns; any judge, justice or judicial officer presiding over the case, along with the members of their immediate families and judicial staff; and anyone who timely and validly opts out.
Two separate cybersecurity incidents are covered. The first occurred on or about November 16, 2020, and the second on or about April 26, 2023. According to the Notice, the private information involved may have included full names, Social Security numbers, addresses, driver's license numbers, state identification numbers, passport numbers, financial account information, health insurance information and medical information. Americold began notifying people about the 2020 incident on or about March 4, 2021 and about the 2023 incident on or about December 8, 2023. The Notice does not state how many people were notified. If you are new to how these cases work, our data breach class action explainer walks through the stages from notice to payment.
How Much Can You Get?
If the court approves the settlement, Americold pays $5,250,000 into a fund. Court-approved attorneys' fees and expenses, service awards, administration costs and the cost of providing the credit monitoring come out of that fund first, and the balance pays class member benefits. There are three benefits, and the two cash options are described in the Notice as available and/or, so you are not forced to pick just one.- Documented Losses Payment — up to $25,000 per class member for unreimbursed, documented losses related to either incident. The Notice lists covered examples: long-distance telephone charges, cell phone minutes if charged by the minute, internet usage charges in limited circumstances, the cost of credit reports purchased because of the incident, documented amounts paid for credit monitoring or fraud resolution services purchased because of the incident, and documented expenses directly associated with dealing with identity theft or identity fraud tied to the incident.
- Residual Cash Payment — estimated at $200 if the Settlement Administrator identifies you as having been notified of both the 2020 and the 2023 incidents, or $100 if you were notified of only one of them. No documentation is required for this tier.
- Credit monitoring — three years of coverage that includes at least $1 million in identity theft protection services. This is offered in addition to whichever cash payment you elect, and the Notice says the administrator emails enrollment instructions and an activation code after final approval and after any appeals are resolved.
Treat both cash figures as estimates rather than fixed amounts. The Residual Cash Payment is defined as whatever remains in the fund after documented-loss payments, the cost of the credit monitoring, administration costs, attorneys' fees and expenses, and service awards are deducted, divided among the class members with valid residual claims. Class members identified as notified of both incidents receive double what those notified of one incident receive, which is where the $200 and $100 estimates come from. On top of that, the Notice states that all cash payments are subject to a pro rata increase or decrease depending on how many valid claims come in and how much money is left, so the final number can move in either direction. Our glossary entry on pro rata settlement payments explains how that math works.
Class counsel will ask the court to approve attorneys' fees of up to 35% of the fund, which is $1,837,500, plus reimbursement of expenses, and service awards of $3,000 for each of the seven class representatives. All of that is subject to court approval and comes out of the same $5,250,000. Class counsel are Milberg PLLC, the Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, Gibson Consumer Law Group, LLC and Markovits, Stock & DeMarco, LLC. Class members are not charged directly for these lawyers.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
Proof is required. The claim form opens with a login screen that requires the Class Member ID printed on the notice sent to class members, and it is a required field. That administrator-issued credential gates the filing path, which makes this a proof-required settlement even for the Residual Cash Payment, which itself needs no supporting documentation. Our glossary entry on why you received a class action notice explains what that mailing is and why the code on it matters.If you claim the documented-losses tier, you must also attach reasonable documentation. The Notice gives telephone records, correspondence including emails, and receipts as examples of what qualifies. It is specific about what does not: a personal certification, declaration or affidavit from the class member is not itself reasonable documentation, though it may be submitted alongside other proof to add clarification, context or support. You also cannot claim an expense that has already been reimbursed from another source, including through the credit monitoring and identity theft protection offered in Americold's original notification letters.
If your documented-loss claim is missing documentation or is rejected and you do not cure it, the Notice states that it is rejected as a documented-loss claim and becomes a claim for a Residual Cash Payment instead, so a failed proof upload does not leave you with nothing.
If you cannot locate your Class Member ID, request it through the contact page on the official settlement website, giving your full name and mailing address. A full paper Claim Form is also posted on the settlement website and can be downloaded, completed and returned to the Settlement Administrator using the instructions printed on the form.
What Is the Deadline?
Claim Forms must be submitted online, or postmarked and mailed to the Settlement Administrator, on or before October 22, 2026. The Notice gives that date without specifying a cutoff time or timezone, so treat the full date as the deadline rather than assuming an end-of-day rule.One scheduling quirk is worth flagging because it is the opposite of the usual pattern. The claim deadline falls after the Final Approval Hearing, not before it. The hearing is set for October 6, 2026, and claims stay open for roughly two more weeks after that. Most settlements close the claim window well ahead of the hearing, so if you have followed other cases, do not assume the hearing date is your cutoff here.
Two earlier deadlines apply to people who want out or who want to object, and both fall on September 22, 2026. A request to opt out must be a written statement clearly saying you want to be excluded from the settlement class, naming the case and case number, giving your name, address, telephone number and email address, carrying your personal signature, and postmarked by that date. An objection must be filed with the court and mailed or shipped to class counsel, defendant's counsel and the Settlement Administrator with a postmark or shipping date no later than September 22, 2026, and the Notice lists what it has to contain: the case name and number, your full name, mailing address and telephone number and your lawyer's details if you have one, all grounds for the objection, whether you intend to appear at the hearing and whether personally or through counsel, a list of anyone who will testify in support, and your personal signature, which an attorney's signature does not substitute for. Anyone who intends to speak at the hearing must also describe in the written objection any evidence they may offer and attach copies of any exhibits.
You cannot do both. Objecting tells the court you do not like something about the settlement, and it is only available to class members who stay in. Opting out removes you from the settlement entirely, so once you have excluded yourself there is nothing left to object to. Objecting does not cost you your benefits: the Notice confirms that a class member who objects can still submit a Claim Form.
How Do You Take Action?
File through the official Americold Bracy settlement website. The online claim form opens after you enter the Class Member ID from your notice, then walks through claimant information, the claim itself, payment information, and an attestation and signature.Decide before you start which benefits you are claiming. You can claim documented losses and the Residual Cash Payment, and you can add the three years of credit monitoring to either, so read the claim form's benefit selections rather than assuming one choice cancels another. If you are claiming documented losses, gather the records first, because a claim without reasonable documentation converts to a residual claim.
If you prefer paper, download the full Claim Form from the same website, complete it, and mail it to the Settlement Administrator using the instructions printed on the form so that it is postmarked by October 22, 2026. Do not file through any third-party site — filing on the official settlement website is free.
What Happens Next?
The next milestone is the Final Approval Hearing on October 6, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia. At that hearing the court will decide whether to approve the settlement, whether to award the requested attorneys' fees and expenses, and whether to award the service awards, and it will consider any timely objections. The Notice states that the date and time may change without further notice and directs class members to check the settlement website for updates. Class members do not have to attend, and an objection filed on time and in the required form is considered whether or not you show up.Settlement benefits are distributed only if the court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved. The Notice does not say whether appeals will be filed or how long they would take, and no payment date has been announced. Class members who elected credit monitoring receive their enrollment information and activation code by email at that same stage rather than immediately after filing. We will update this page when a final approval order or a payment schedule is entered.
Doing nothing has consequences here. A class member who neither files a claim nor opts out gets no settlement benefits and is still bound by the releases, which means giving up the right to start, continue or take part in any other lawsuit against Americold and the other released parties over the claims this settlement resolves.
Sources and Verification
• Official settlement website — Lamont Bracy, et al. v. Americold Logistics, LLC• Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement (long-form notice)
• Docket — Bracy v. Americold Logistics, LLC, No. 1:23-cv-05743 (N.D. Ga.)
• Opinion and Order on the motion to dismiss, February 19, 2025
• GovInfo — United States Courts opinions, Bracy v. Americold Logistics LLC
Questions
Why is the claim deadline after the final approval hearing?
That ordering is unusual but it is what the court-approved Notice sets. The Final Approval Hearing is scheduled for October 6, 2026, and the Claim Form deadline is October 22, 2026, so the claim window stays open for about two more weeks after the court is scheduled to consider approval. It does not mean you should wait. Filing early costs nothing, and the Notice states that benefits are distributed only if the court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved, so a claim filed now is simply held until that happens.
Can I claim documented losses and the residual cash payment?
Yes. The Notice describes the two cash benefits as available and/or, so a class member may claim up to $25,000 for unreimbursed documented losses and also claim the Residual Cash Payment. Three years of credit monitoring is offered on top of whichever cash benefit you elect. There is one thing worth knowing about how a failed documented-loss claim is handled: the Notice states that if you do not submit reasonable documentation, or your documented-loss claim is rejected and you do not cure it, that claim is rejected and becomes a claim for a Residual Cash Payment instead.
Is the $200 or $100 figure guaranteed?
No. Both figures are estimates, and the Notice says so. The Residual Cash Payment is whatever is left in the $5,250,000 fund after documented-loss payments, the cost of the credit monitoring, administration costs, court-approved attorneys' fees and expenses, and service awards, divided among the valid residual claims. The Notice also states that all cash payments are subject to a pro rata increase or decrease based on how many valid claims are filed and how much money remains. That means the amount can move in either direction, not only down.
How do I know whether I was notified about one incident or both?
You do not have to work it out yourself, and you cannot elect the higher tier. The Notice states that the Settlement Administrator identifies, from the records, whether a class member was notified of both the 2020 Data Incident and the 2023 Data Incident or of only one. Class members identified as having been notified of both receive double what those notified of only one receive, which is why the estimates are $200 and $100. Americold sent notices about the 2020 incident beginning on or about March 4, 2021 and about the 2023 incident beginning on or about December 8, 2023.
What if I never received a notice, or I cannot find my Class Member ID?
The online claim form will not open without the Class Member ID, which is printed on the notice sent to class members. If you cannot locate yours, request it through the contact page on the official settlement website, giving your full name and mailing address. A full paper Claim Form is also posted on the settlement website and can be downloaded, completed and returned to the Settlement Administrator using the instructions printed on the form.
Official Settlement Notice
For more class actions keep scrolling below.
Settlement Amount
$5,250,000
Non-reversionary settlement fund · attorneys' fees and expenses, service awards, administration costs and the cost of the credit monitoring are deducted before class member benefits
Case Title
Lamont Bracy, et al. v. Americold Logistics, LLC
Case Number
1:23-cv-05743-TWT
Court
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division
Final Approval Hearing
October 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM ET
Richard B. Russell Federal Building and United States Courthouse, Atlanta, Georgia · date and time may change without further notice
Administrator
Kroll Settlement Administration
Official Website
Americold Bracy Settlement.com
