This settlement covers the people Steel Warehouse Company, LLC notified after a targeted cyberattack on its computer systems in January 2025. If your name is on the class list, you can take a flat $40 that needs no proof at all, or instead claim up to $5,000 in documented losses plus $60 for lost time — and a year of credit monitoring is available either way, as long as you actually file.
Current Status
Claims are open. Claim Forms must be submitted online by December 1, 2026, or mailed with a postmark no later than that date; the notice states a date rather than a cutoff time. The deadline to opt out or to object is much earlier, on October 2, 2026, and the final approval hearing is scheduled for October 21, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time in South Bend, Indiana — so the court has not yet decided whether to approve the settlement, and no payment date had been announced as of August 30, 2026. If Steel Warehouse sent you a notice with a LoginID and PIN on it, the action to take now is to file a Claim Form: nothing here is automatic, and a class member who does nothing receives no cash and no credit monitoring.What Changed Recently?
Notice has gone out to the class and the claim window is now running toward its December 1, 2026 close. The case is captioned In re: Steel Warehouse Data Incident Litigation, Cause No. 71D04-2508-CE-000011, in the Indiana Commercial Court in the St. Joseph County Superior Court. It began as two separate class action complaints filed in May 2025 against Steel Warehouse Company, LLC over the same incident; the court consolidated them in July 2025, and a consolidated complaint followed in August 2025.According to the court-authorized notice, the lawsuit alleges that during a targeted cyberattack on Steel Warehouse's computer systems in January 2025, certain files containing private information were accessed. The notice says those files may have contained names, Social Security numbers, addresses, driver's license numbers, government-issued ID numbers such as passports, dates of birth, and financial information such as credit and debit card numbers. The settlement agreement dates the incident to on or around January 23, 2025.
The consolidated complaint pleaded negligence and negligence per se, breach of implied contract, breach of bailment, and invasion of privacy. Steel Warehouse answered by denying that it failed to employ adequate data security measures and denying all liability. After discovery, the parties mediated for a full day in March 2026 without reaching a deal, and reached an agreement in principle in April 2026 through the mediator's continued efforts. Steel Warehouse continues to deny any wrongdoing, and the court has not decided who is right.
Who Qualifies?
The court defined the class as all individuals whose personal identifying information may have been compromised as a result of the Data Incident, as identified on the Class List. That last clause is the operative one: Steel Warehouse gave the administrator a list of affected people, and membership is decided by being on it rather than by anything a claimant can assert. The notice tells recipients directly that Steel Warehouse's records indicate they are class members, and adds that some may have already received a separate notification from the company itself.Excluded are Steel Warehouse and its officers, directors and related companies; the judge in the case along with the judge's family and staff; anyone who perpetrated the incident; and anyone who validly excludes themselves from the settlement. If you are unsure whether you are on the list, the official settlement website's contact page is the place to ask.
The settlement does not describe the class in employment terms, and the notice does not say how many people are on the Class List. The preliminary approval order says only that there are thousands of class members.
How Much Can You Get?
There is no common settlement fund here. Steel Warehouse pays valid claims directly, and the agreement caps the benefits per claimant rather than in aggregate — it states no total fund, no class-wide ceiling and no pro rata reduction. The costs of notice and administration, the attorneys' fees and the service awards are all paid by Steel Warehouse separately, on top of what class members receive.Every class member chooses one of two cash routes:
- Alternative Cash Payment — $40. A one-time payment that requires no proof and no explanation. Choosing it rules out the other route.
- Out-of-Pocket Losses — up to $5,000, and Lost Time — up to $60. These two stack with each other, so $5,060 is the practical ceiling for someone with documentation. Choosing either one rules out the $40.
Out-of-Pocket Losses reimburse unreimbursed expenses the administrator finds directly traceable to the incident, for losses incurred between January 23, 2025 and December 1, 2026. The notice lists losses from identity theft or fraud, fees for credit reports, credit monitoring or freezing and unfreezing credit, the cost of replacing IDs, and postage to contact banks by mail. The settlement agreement adds bank fees, long-distance and per-minute phone charges, metered data charges, and miscellaneous documented expenses such as notary, fax, copying, mileage and local-travel gasoline. Expenses already reimbursed by a third party do not qualify.
Lost Time pays $20.00 per hour for up to three hours — $60 at the maximum — for time spent responding to the incident. The notice gives changing passwords, investigating suspicious activity and researching the incident as examples, and the agreement adds acquiring credit freezes, remedying actual fraud and monitoring statements. It is claimed by describing how the time was spent and swearing to it on the Claim Form, not by producing records.
Class counsel will ask the court to approve $182,500 in attorneys' fees and litigation costs, plus service award payments of $2,250 for each of the class representatives. The notice says Steel Warehouse pays both amounts, so neither comes out of class members' payments. The court may award less.
What About the Credit Monitoring?
One year of CyEx Financial Shield Complete is available to every class member, and it does not consume either cash option — you can take the $40 and the monitoring, or the documented-loss route and the monitoring. The notice describes it as coming with $1 million of financial fraud insurance and monitoring for fraud or identity theft, unauthorized financial transactions, and personal information appearing in high-risk transactions, with access to a fraud resolution agent if something turns up.The important qualifier is that it is claimed, not automatic. The settlement agreement makes the service available only to class members who submit a valid and timely claim, and requires activation within 45 days after the activation code is issued. On the Claim Form it is a single checkbox in Section II. Missing that box, or missing the 45-day activation window later, forfeits the benefit — which is a meaningful difference from breach settlements that enroll the entire class whether or not anyone files.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
Proof is required. The online claim portal opens with a login screen that asks for the LoginID and PIN printed at the top of the notice that was mailed to you. That is an administrator-issued credential a claimant can only get from the notice, so under OCA's standard this is a Proof Required: Yes settlement even for the flat $40 payment, which otherwise asks for nothing.The paper Claim Form is somewhat looser: it lists "Login ID (if known)" as optional and collects name and address instead. But the administrator is directed to reject claims submitted by anyone not on the Class List, so the list still gates the benefit — the paper route just verifies against it differently. If you cannot find your LoginID and PIN, the official settlement website's contact page is the route to request them or to ask for a paper Claim Form.
The Out-of-Pocket Losses tier carries a second, heavier requirement. The agreement calls for contemporaneous third-party documentation sufficient to establish the loss, its amount, and that it is fairly traceable to the incident — bank statements, receipts and similar records. Notes or papers a claimant wrote themselves may be submitted to explain or support that documentation, but the notice says they are not enough on their own to make a valid claim. Claiming Out-of-Pocket Losses also requires acknowledging on the form that the loss was not reimbursed.
The Lost Time tier needs no receipts — a brief description of how the time was spent, sworn to on the form. Every claim, of either kind, is submitted under penalty of perjury and is subject to verification. If the administrator finds a claim deficient it must send notice of the deficiency, and the claimant then has 21 days from that letter to cure it.
What Is the Deadline?
- File a Claim Form: online by December 1, 2026, or postmarked by December 1, 2026
- Exclude yourself (opt out): postmarked by October 2, 2026
- Object to the settlement: filed with the Clerk of Court by October 2, 2026, with a copy sent to the administrator
- Final approval hearing: October 21, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, in South Bend, Indiana or by video or teleconference
The notice gives a date for the claim deadline without an accompanying cutoff time, so we publish only the date. Note the unusual ordering: the opt-out and objection deadline falls almost two months before claims close, and the final approval hearing falls about six weeks before it. Anyone weighing whether to stay in the class has to decide by October 2, well before the last day to file.
How Do You Take Action?
File through the official settlement website, Steel Warehouse Data Settlement.com. The online form starts with the LoginID and PIN from your notice, then collects your contact details, offers the credit monitoring checkbox, and asks you to select either the $40 Alternative Cash Payment or the Out-of-Pocket Losses and Lost Time route. For documented losses you list each expense with its amount and attach the supporting records; for lost time you select one, two or three hours and describe what you did. The form then asks how you want to be paid — PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, a virtual prepaid card or a physical check — and ends with a signed attestation under penalty of perjury.A printable Claim Form is available on the official settlement website for anyone who would rather file on paper, and the administrator will also send one on request through the site's contact page. Whichever route you take, submit only one Claim Form per person; the administrator rejects duplicates. If your contact information changes after you file, it is on you to tell the administrator.
Staying in the class means giving up the right to sue Steel Warehouse over anything arising out of or related to the incident, including unknown claims. Opting out is the only way to keep that right, and it requires a signed written Request for Exclusion mailed to the administrator and postmarked by October 2, 2026, carrying the case name and cause number, your contact details, your signature, and a clear statement that you do not want to participate. An opt-out receives no cash and no credit monitoring, and you may exclude only yourself.
What Happens Next?
The next milestone is the October 21, 2026 final approval hearing, at which the court will consider whether the settlement is fair and will rule on the requests for attorneys' fees and service awards, along with any objections filed. The notice warns that the date and time may change without further notice and that the hearing may be held by video or teleconference, so the official settlement website is the place to confirm it. Class members do not have to attend, and an objection filed on time is considered whether or not its author shows up.A hearing being held is not the same as approval being granted. The notice says settlement payments are distributed if the court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved, and that whether appeals will be filed — and how long they would take — is unknown. Under the schedule in the settlement agreement, the settlement becomes effective 31 days after the final approval order if no objection is made and no appeal is filed; the administrator has 21 days after the claim deadline to process claims; Steel Warehouse funds valid claims 7 days after being told the total; and payments follow within 21 days of that funding. One detail worth remembering when a payment does arrive: issued settlement payments expire 120 days after issuance.
No payment date had been announced as of August 30, 2026.
Sources and Verification
- In re: Steel Warehouse Data Incident Litigation — Official Settlement Website
- Official Settlement FAQs — benefits, deadlines, opt-out and objection requirements
- Official Documents Page — settlement agreement, long form notice and paper Claim Form
- Official Important Dates Page
- Court-Authorized Notice, Claim Form and Class Action Settlement Agreement (PDF)
Questions
Who qualifies for the Steel Warehouse data breach settlement?
The court defined the class as all individuals whose personal identifying information may have been compromised as a result of the Data Incident, as identified on the Class List. Steel Warehouse supplied that list to the administrator, so membership is decided by whether you are on it rather than by anything you can attest to. Excluded are Steel Warehouse and its officers, directors and related companies; the judge in the case along with the judge's family and staff; anyone who perpetrated the incident; and anyone who validly excludes themselves.
How much does the Steel Warehouse settlement pay?
You pick one of two cash routes. The Alternative Cash Payment is a flat $40 that needs no proof or explanation. The other route reimburses up to $5,000 in documented out-of-pocket losses and pays lost time at $20.00 per hour for up to three hours, a $60 maximum — those two stack with each other, so $5,060 is the ceiling. Choosing the $40 rules the other route out. One year of credit monitoring is available with either choice.
Do I need proof to file a Steel Warehouse claim?
Yes. The online claim portal opens with a login that requires the LoginID and PIN printed at the top of the notice you were sent, so an administrator-issued credential gates the fastest filing route even for the flat $40 payment. The paper Claim Form lists Login ID as optional, but the administrator rejects claims from anyone not on the Class List. The up-to-$5,000 tier separately requires contemporaneous third-party documentation such as bank statements or receipts.
What is the deadline for the Steel Warehouse data breach settlement?
Claim Forms must be submitted online by December 1, 2026, or mailed with a postmark no later than December 1, 2026. The separate deadline to opt out or to object is October 2, 2026 — roughly two months earlier, so the decision to stay in the class has to be made long before the claim window shuts.
Can I get the credit monitoring without filing a claim?
No. Unlike settlements that enroll the whole class automatically, this one makes credit monitoring a claimed benefit: the settlement agreement makes one year of CyEx Financial Shield Complete available only to class members who submit a valid and timely claim, and it must be activated within 45 days after the activation code is issued. Checking the credit monitoring box on the Claim Form does not use up either cash option.
Why is the final approval hearing before the claim deadline?
The schedule in the settlement agreement sets the claim window at 120 days after notice is mailed, while the parties were told to request a final approval hearing about 120 days after preliminary approval, so the hearing on October 21, 2026 lands about six weeks before claims close on December 1, 2026. Nothing about that shortens the claim window. A hearing being held is also not the same as approval being granted.
Is SteelWarehouseDataSettlement.com legit?
Yes. SteelWarehouseDataSettlement.com is the court-authorized settlement website for In re: Steel Warehouse Data Incident Litigation, Cause No. 71D04-2508-CE-000011, pending in the Indiana Commercial Court in the St. Joseph County Superior Court, and administered by Simpluris. Steel Warehouse denies that it did anything wrong and the court has not decided who is right. File only through the official settlement website.
When will Steel Warehouse settlement payments be sent?
Payments go out only if the court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved. Under the schedule in the settlement agreement, the administrator processes claims within 21 days of the claim deadline, Steel Warehouse funds valid claims 7 days after being told the total, and payments follow within 21 days of funding. Issued settlement payments expire 120 days after issuance, so a check or electronic payment should not be left sitting. No payment date had been announced as of August 30, 2026.
Watch Out for Scams
A court-appointed administrator never charges a fee to release a class action payment and will not ask for banking passwords or a "processing payment" by text or phone. Use only the official settlement website linked on this page. Manufacturers and industrial employers keep producing settlements on nearly identical terms — the Furniture Mart USA settlement and the Americold settlement are two open examples. For a wider view, see our roundup of open data breach settlements and our explainer on how a data breach class action works.Official Settlement Notice
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