Published
September 17, 2026
People and entities who owned or rented property in western St. Croix on or after February 3, 2021, or who lived, worked, ran a business or were simply present there between February 3 and May 26, 2021, may qualify to claim a pro rata share of a $59,795,000 Limetree Bay Refinery class action settlement. Claims close November 3, 2026, and the Court holds its final approval hearing on December 14, 2026.
Current Status
Claims are open. The deadline to file is November 3, 2026, which the Notice calls a strict deadline. The Court has granted preliminary approval to seven settlements totaling $59,795,000 and has scheduled the Final Approval Hearing for December 14, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. Atlantic Standard Time; the Notice warns the date, the time and even the format may change without further notice. No final approval order has been entered and no payment date has been announced. Anyone who owned property in, lived in, worked in or was present in the western portion of St. Croix in early 2021 and suffered harm from the refinery releases should file a Claim Form before November 3.Free settlement alerts
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Status
Claims Open
Claim Deadline
November 3, 2026
Opt-out and objection deadlines are both October 27, 2026
Estimated Payout
Pro rata share of $59,795,000
Points awarded under the Settlement Payment Grid · no fixed per-person figure
Proof Required
Yes
Unique ID and PIN from the mailed notice to file online, or proof of identification instead · documentation for every out-of-pocket, wage and business loss claimed
What the Case Is About
Four class actions filed in 2021 allege that the failed restart of the Limetree Bay Refinery on St. Croix caused the release of hazardous and toxic chemicals, substances, gases and odors over the surrounding communities on four occasions — February 4, April 23, May 5 and May 12, 2021 — before the refinery was forced to shut down that May. The complaints allege that the releases caused property damage, including contamination of the water cisterns many St. Croix homes depend on, along with nuisance, trespass, economic losses, physical and emotional health effects and unreimbursed out-of-pocket costs. Plaintiffs filed a consolidated amended complaint in March 2024 and amended it again in August 2025. The Settling Defendants deny the allegations and deny any wrongdoing or liability.After mediation before a Court-appointed mediator, plaintiffs reached seven separate agreements resolving their claims against a group of defendants the Notice calls the Settling Defendants: the ArcLight Capital Partners entities together with Limetree Bay Holdings, Limetree Bay Preferred Holdings and Freepoint Commodities; Pinnacle Services; Universal Plant Services (VI); Excel Construction and Maintenance VI; Versa Integrity Group; Elite Turnaround Specialists; and EIG Global Energy Partners together with Limetree Bay Ventures and Limetree Bay Energy. The combined $59,795,000 is non-reversionary, which the Notice states means none of it returns to the Settling Defendants under any circumstance if the settlements are finally approved.
Important: these agreements do not end the case. Plaintiffs have not settled with the remaining defendants and say they will keep litigating against them, and the releases here do not cover those non-settling defendants.
Who Qualifies?
The Settlement Class covers every person or entity in either of two groups. The first is anyone who owned or rented property — real or personal — in the Affected Geographic Area on or after February 3, 2021. The second is anyone who resided in, worked in, owned or operated a business in, or was simply present in the Affected Geographic Area at any point between February 3, 2021 and May 26, 2021. Retained clients of the law firms making up Class Counsel who could assert claims arising out of the incidents are included as well.The Affected Geographic Area is the western portion of the island of St. Croix, defined as the area bounded by 64.74 degrees West longitude and the sea. A Settlement Map dividing that area into Zones 1, 2 and 3 is published on the settlement website, and the Claim Form asks which zone applies — the zone feeds into the point calculation. Membership in the class is not the same thing as having a payable claim: the Claim Form is only for class members who say they were harmed by the releases, and the Notice is explicit that someone who does not claim harm should not fill one out.
How Much Can You Get?
There is no advertised per-person figure, and that is a feature of how this settlement works rather than a gap in the Notice. The Settlement Administrator awards points under a Settlement Payment Grid published on the settlement website, weighing the categories a claimant documents: property damage including cistern contamination, nuisance, trespass, economic losses, physical and emotional health manifestations, and non-reimbursed out-of-pocket expenses. It then tallies the points across every eligible class member and calculates each payment as a pro rata share. The settlement website states plainly that a cash payment may decrease depending on the number of claims filed.The $59,795,000 is a gross fund. Before payments are calculated it also covers settlement administration fees and costs, Class Counsel's attorneys' fees of up to one-third of the fund plus costs, and service awards of up to $5,000 for each class representative — all subject to the Court's approval. Points accumulate per property, so a claimant with more than one affected property lists each on the Claim Form, though only one owner claim and one renter claim can be made for any single property, with fractional owners and renters recovering pro rata.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
Filing online requires a Unique ID and a PIN, both printed on the first page of the mailed Notice of Settlement. A class member filing on paper without them must instead submit documentary proof of identification — the Claim Form names a driver's license, lease, mortgage, utility bill, credit card statement, deed, pay stub, insurance bill or a court document listing the address.Documentation is separately required for anything claimed as a loss. Lost wages and business losses need tax forms or similar financial records showing the decline after the incidents compared with before. Out-of-pocket expenses — bottled water, travel to get water, cistern cleaning, unreimbursed medical costs — each need a receipt, invoice, credit card statement, medical record, insurance record or returned check. Health effects that a class member sought treatment for call for the related medical records plus a Lien Disclosure Form; health effects with no medical visit are described on the form instead, with no records attached.
Two practical notes from the filing instructions. Uploads must be under 20 MB per file in one of the accepted formats, and the online Claim Form is not saved partway through, so every document needs to be ready before starting. Unrelated transactions and all but the first and last four digits of an account number may be redacted, and nothing submitted is returned.
What Is the Deadline?
Claim Forms must be submitted by November 3, 2026, whether filed through the settlement website's portal or mailed to the Settlement Administrator. The Notice calls this a strict deadline and states that only claims submitted by that date are valid and timely. A class member may file more than one Claim Form before the deadline but cannot recover twice for the same item of damage.Both other deadlines fall a week earlier, on October 27, 2026. A written request for exclusion must be postmarked to the Settlement Administrator by that date, must be personally signed, and cannot be made on a group or class basis. An objection must also be postmarked by October 27, 2026, must set out every ground being raised along with any supporting papers, must say whether the objector intends to appear at the hearing, and must carry a handwritten signature. Objecting does not forfeit anything — the Notice confirms a class member who objects may still file a Claim Form and receive a payment. Opting out does forfeit the payment.
How Do You Take Action?
File through the official settlement website, Limetree Bay Settlement, which hosts the online Claim Form in a HIPAA-compliant portal along with the Notice, the Settlement Agreements, the Settlement Map and the Payment Grid. The site is also available in Spanish. A paper Claim Form can be downloaded from the same site, completed by hand and either uploaded through the portal or mailed to the Settlement Administrator.The Claim Form itself has four parts to complete and is signed under penalty of perjury: claimant information, the damages claimed, a payment election, and the certification. The payment election matters — class members choose a check by mail, Venmo, Zelle or an ACH transfer, and the Notice says selecting more than one option results in a mailed check. Checks stay valid for 180 days, after which uncashed funds eventually go to a cy pres recipient the Court approves.
Anyone whose mailing address changes before payment arrives needs to tell the Settlement Administrator through the website's contact form; the Notice warns that a class member who does not keep an address current may not receive a payment they are owed.
What Happens Next?
The Court will hold the Final Approval Hearing on December 14, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. Atlantic Standard Time before Judge Mark A. Kearney at the United States District Court of the Virgin Islands on St. Croix, and will decide there whether the settlements are fair, reasonable and adequate and whether to approve the fee and service-award application. Attendance is optional and a timely written objection is considered whether or not the objector appears; the Court may also hear from objectors who ask to speak, at its discretion. The Notice says the hearing may be moved, or held by video or telephone, without further notice, so the settlement website is the place to confirm it.If the settlements receive final approval, the Settlement Administrator has 120 days after the effective date — final approval plus the expiration or resolution of any appeals — to issue payments. Separately, the litigation against the non-settling defendants continues, and nothing on that track is resolved by these agreements.
Sources and Verification
This page is built from the Court-authorized Notice of Class Action Settlements, the official Claim Form and claim instructions, and the FAQ published on the official settlement website operated by the Settlement Administrator, Limetree Bay Settlement, which also hosts the Settlement Agreements, the Settlement Map and the Payment Grid. The case is In re Limetree Bay Refinery Litigation, Case No. 1:21-cv-00253, in the United States District Court of the Virgin Islands, before Judge Mark A. Kearney. The full Notice is reproduced below.Questions
How is each payment calculated if there is no set dollar amount?
The Settlement Administrator awards points under a Settlement Payment Grid published on the settlement website, based on the categories claimed — property damage including cistern contamination, nuisance, trespass, economic losses, physical and emotional health manifestations, and non-reimbursed out-of-pocket expenses. The Administrator tallies every eligible class member's points and divides the net fund pro rata, so no individual figure can be quoted in advance and a payment can decrease as more claims are filed.
Does this settlement end the whole Limetree Bay case?
No. The seven agreements resolve claims only against the Settling Defendants. The Notice states that plaintiffs have not settled with the remaining defendants and will continue to litigate against them, and that the releases do not cover those non-settling defendants. Staying in this settlement does not give up claims against defendants who are not parties to it.
Can one Claim Form cover a whole household?
Partly. An adult family member may file one Claim Form on behalf of their spouse and minor children, listing each of them on the form. Adult children and any other adults in the home must file their own Claim Forms. A class member may also file more than one Claim Form before the deadline, but cannot recover twice for the same item of damage or harm.
What happens if the Claim Form is missing something?
The Notice says the Settlement Administrator sends a deficiency letter and gives the class member 21 days to respond and cure the problem, with one opportunity to cure. A Claim Form that conclusively establishes the claim is not eligible under the agreements is denied outright.
Why does claiming medical treatment require an extra form?
A class member who sought medical treatment for health effects attributed to the releases is asked to attach the related medical records and a Lien Disclosure Form. The Notice materials explain that a health insurer who paid for that care may assert a medical lien against a settlement payment, and that a Healthcare Compliance Administrator identifies and resolves those liens. A class member who had health effects but never saw a medical professional describes them on the Claim Form instead and does not file the lien form.
Official Settlement Notice
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Settlement Amount
$59,795,000 (non-reversionary)
Case Title
In re Limetree Bay Refinery Litigation
Case Number
1:21-cv-00253
Court
U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands
Final Approval Hearing
December 14, 2026 at 9:30 AM AST
Before Judge Mark A. Kearney on St. Croix · the Notice says the date, time and format may change
Administrator
Epiq Class Action & Claims Solutions
Official Website
Limetree Bay Settlement
