This settlement covers a 2023 email data incident at Coleman Professional Services, the Kent, Ohio nonprofit behavioral health provider now operating as Coleman Health Services, which implicated Social Security numbers and treatment information for roughly 51,889 people. If a notice was mailed to you, one Claim Form can carry an estimated $70 cash payment, up to $5,000 in documented losses, and a year of three-bureau credit monitoring.
Current Status
Claims are open. The official settlement website lists a Claim Form deadline of October 5, 2026, with an earlier September 4, 2026 deadline to exclude yourself from the class or to object. The Portage County Court of Common Pleas granted preliminary approval and treats the case as a class action for settlement purposes only; the Final Approval Hearing is scheduled for October 13, 2026 at 9:45 a.m. Eastern. No final approval order has been entered and no payment date has been announced. One wrinkle is worth knowing before you file: the form of notice attached to the signed settlement agreement listed an earlier claim deadline of September 23, 2026, so if the postcard you received shows a different date than the website, treat the earlier one as your working deadline.What Changed Recently?
The claim window is open and running. The case is Armstrong, et al. v. Coleman Professional Services, Inc., No. 2024CV00139, before Judge Laurie J. Pittman in the Portage County Court of Common Pleas in Ohio. The Court granted preliminary approval, recognized the case as one that should be treated as a class action for settlement purposes only, and authorized the notice program; Atticus Administration is the Settlement Administrator, and the postcard notices it mailed carry each class member's Claimant ID.The underlying allegation is that Coleman failed to implement and maintain the reasonable security measures needed to protect the private information it held. Coleman denies any wrongdoing and denies that it is or can be held liable for the claims in the litigation. The Notice states plainly that the settlement does not establish who is correct — it is a compromise to end the case, and the Court has not decided the merits. Coleman also implemented business practice changes intended to reduce the chance of another incident, which the Notice values at approximately $250,000.
Coleman Professional Services is a nonprofit provider of behavioral health, residential, employment and supportive services based in Kent, Ohio, and it now operates under the name Coleman Health Services. That rename is worth flagging because the notice you received may carry either name. The data incident itself occurred between September 18 and October 31, 2023, when one or more unauthorized individuals allegedly accessed information held in Coleman's email accounts.
Who Qualifies?
The Settlement Class is all United States residents whose Private Information was implicated in the Data Incident, including all United States residents to whom Coleman mailed direct notice of the incident. The Notice puts the class at roughly 51,889 people. Note what the class definition does not do: it does not limit membership to Ohio residents, even though Coleman's operations are Ohio-based, so someone who was a Coleman client or employee and has since moved out of state is still covered.The information involved is broader than the name-and-Social-Security-number pairing typical of smaller breaches. According to the Notice, the Private Information may have included names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver's license or state-issued ID numbers, financial account information, treatment and diagnosis information, patient identification numbers, and health insurance and payment information.
The class specifically excludes anyone who timely and validly requests exclusion; the judge assigned to evaluate the fairness of the settlement, along with court staff assigned to the case; Coleman's officers and directors; and any person found by a court to be guilty under criminal law of initiating, causing, aiding or abetting the criminal activity connected to the incident, or who pleads no contest to such a charge. Class membership is verified against the mailed notice list.
How Much Can You Get?
There are three benefits, and the Notice allows them to be combined on a single Claim Form. Coleman's total obligation to the Settlement Fund is capped at $950,000, and that ceiling covers everything — class member benefits, attorneys' fees, costs, expenses and class representative service awards.• Pro rata cash payment. Every class member may claim a cash payment estimated at roughly $70, with no proof of loss required. That estimate assumes a claims rate of about 10 percent of the roughly 51,889-person class, and the actual figure is adjusted up or down on a pro rata basis depending on what is left in the fund after fees, costs, administration, service awards, documented-loss claims and the credit monitoring subscriptions are paid. Treat $70 as an estimate rather than a promise.
• Documented out-of-pocket losses. Up to $5,000 total per class member for actual, documented losses or unreimbursed expenses fairly traceable to the incident and incurred on or after September 2023. The listed categories include unreimbursed costs from identity theft or fraud, falsified tax returns or other misuse of a Social Security number; costs of accessing, freezing or unfreezing credit reports; miscellaneous expenses such as notary, fax, postage, copying, mileage and long-distance telephone charges; other mitigative costs traceable to the incident; and unpaid time off work spent addressing the breach, at your actual hourly rate.
• Credit monitoring. One year of three-bureau identity and credit monitoring, available to every class member who files an approved claim, on top of either cash benefit.
Class Counsel will ask the Court to approve attorneys' fees of no more than one third of the total settlement value — that is, $400,000 — plus up to $30,000 in litigation costs and expenses, and service awards of up to $5,000 for each class representative. The Court decides those amounts and may award less. Because every one of those items comes out of the same $950,000 ceiling, they are what determine how far the cash payments stretch.
What Proof or Claimant ID Is Required?
Filing requires the Claimant ID printed on the front of your postcard notice, so this settlement is Proof Required: Yes even for the no-documentation cash payment. Claims are also subject to a verification process against the mailed notice list. If you do not know your Claimant ID, the contact page on the official settlement website is the route to ask the Settlement Administrator for it, or to request a paper Claim Form.The documented-loss tier carries its own requirements on top of the Claimant ID. You must provide your name and current address, documentation reasonably supporting the claim, and a brief description of the nature of the loss where the documentation alone does not make it obvious. Supporting documentation means receipts or other records not self-prepared — the Notice states that self-prepared documents such as handwritten receipts are, by themselves, insufficient, though they can be used to clarify or support other documentation you submit. The cash payment and the credit monitoring need no such records.
What Is the Deadline?
The official settlement website lists October 5, 2026 as the deadline to submit a Claim Form, and September 4, 2026 as the deadline both to exclude yourself and to object. The Notice does not specify a time of day or a timezone for the claim deadline, so no cutoff time is published here.Important: the form of notice attached to the signed settlement agreement carries an earlier schedule — a September 23, 2026 claim deadline and an August 24, 2026 exclusion and objection deadline — and that same document also gives August 21, 2026 as an objection postmark date in one place. The official settlement website, which the Settlement Administrator maintains and updates, shows the later dates. The practical answer is not to wait: file well before September 23, 2026, and check the official website to confirm the operative date before relying on any of them.
Exclusion has its own mechanics. A request to be excluded has to be mailed, must be signed by you personally, and must identify the case, your full name and current address, and your intent to opt out. Exclusion cannot be done by phone or email, each person who wants out must submit their own request, and group opt-outs are not permitted.
How Do You Take Action?
File through the official settlement website at Coleman Settlement.com, where you can submit the Claim Form online using the Claimant ID from your postcard notice, or download a paper form to complete and mail. The same website hosts the Settlement Agreement and the other settlement documents, whose terms control over any summary — including this one.If you are choosing between the two cash routes, the arithmetic is straightforward: the documented-loss tier is worth pursuing only if you have records of real expenses traceable to the incident, since a documented claim caps at $5,000 but requires proof, while the estimated $70 requires nothing beyond your Claimant ID. You are not forced to pick — a single form can carry both, plus the credit monitoring.
What Happens Next?
The Final Approval Hearing is set for October 13, 2026 at 9:45 a.m. Eastern in Ravenna, Ohio, where the Court will decide whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, and will rule on the requested attorneys' fees, costs and service awards. The Notice cautions that the date and time can change by court order, with any change posted on the official settlement website or the Court's public docket.A hearing being held is not the same as approval being granted. If the Court grants final approval, eligible class members whose claims the Settlement Administrator approves will be paid after all appeals and other reviews, if any, are complete — a step that can add months. Payments go out by check unless a class member elects to be paid electronically, and the Notice states that all checks expire and become void 180 days after they are issued.
Sources and Verification
• Official settlement website — Coleman Settlement.com• Court-authorized Notice of Class Action Settlement and Claim Form, Armstrong, et al. v. Coleman Professional Services, Inc.
• Signed Settlement Agreement (executed November 14, 2025), filed in Armstrong, et al. v. Coleman Professional Services, Inc., No. 2024CV00139, Portage County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio
• Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs — Coleman Professional Services data breach notification (2024-279)
• Business Wire — counsel announcement of the Coleman data breach investigation (February 2024)
Questions
I moved since 2023 and never saw a notice. Am I still covered?
Possibly. The class is all United States residents whose Private Information was implicated in the Data Incident, including everyone Coleman mailed direct notice to. Class membership is verified against the mailed list rather than your current address, so a move does not remove you from the class. Filing online requires the Claimant ID from the postcard notice, so if you never received one, use the contact page on the official settlement website to ask the Settlement Administrator whether a notice was mailed to you and how to obtain your Claimant ID.
Can I claim the cash payment, the documented losses, and the credit monitoring together?
Yes. The Notice describes three benefits that may be combined on a single Claim Form: reimbursement of up to $5,000 in documented out-of-pocket losses, a pro rata cash payment estimated at roughly $70, and one year of three-bureau identity and credit monitoring. You do not need to have suffered any out-of-pocket loss to claim the cash payment or the monitoring.
Why might my payment come in under $70?
The roughly $70 figure is an estimate that assumes a claims rate of about 10 percent of the roughly 51,889-person class. The actual payment is adjusted up or down based on the money left in the Settlement Fund after attorneys' fees and costs, settlement administration costs, class representative service awards, valid documented-loss claims, and the credit monitoring subscriptions are paid. Coleman's total obligation to the fund is capped at $950,000, so a higher claims rate means a smaller individual payment.
What happens if I never cash my settlement check?
According to the Notice, all checks expire and become void 180 days after they are issued. Class members may instead choose to receive payment electronically. Payments are only sent after the Court grants final approval and any appeals or other reviews are complete.
Does this settlement mean Coleman was found responsible for the breach?
No. Coleman denies any wrongdoing and denies that it is or can be held liable for the claims in the litigation. The Notice states that the settlement does not establish who is correct and is not an admission of wrongdoing. The Court has not decided whether the plaintiffs or Coleman should win; both sides agreed to settle to avoid the uncertainty, risk and expense of continued litigation.
