Published
July 27, 2026
This $60 million settlement resolves Oklahoma shareholder claims over the November 2022 deal that took the oil and gas producer Continental Resources private at $74.28 per share. If you still held Continental stock when that buyout closed, you are in line for an automatic pro rata payment — there is no claim form to file.
Current Status
There is no claim form and no claim deadline in this settlement — eligible shareholders are paid automatically if the Court approves it. The Court preliminarily approved the $60,000,000 settlement on July 1, 2026 and set a settlement hearing for November 10, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in Oklahoma County. Final approval has not been granted, and no payment date has been announced. Class members who want to object, or to speak at the hearing, must have their written objection received by October 26, 2026. The window to exclude yourself from the Class closed on April 23, 2026 under the earlier class notice, so opting out is no longer available.
Status
Pending Final Approval
preliminary approval July 1, 2026 · settlement hearing November 10, 2026
Objection Deadline
October 26, 2026
exclusion window closed April 23, 2026 — you can object, but you can no longer opt out
Estimated Payout
Pro rata share of $60,000,000
paid per eligible share held at the buyout closing · the notice does not publish a per-share figure
Proof Required
Automatic Payment
no claim form to file — paid through your broker (DTC) or directly to registered record holders
What Changed Recently?
The parties signed a term sheet on April 14, 2026, weeks before a trial that was set to begin on May 4, 2026, and executed the final settlement agreement on June 18, 2026. On July 1, 2026, the District Court of Oklahoma County preliminarily approved the settlement, authorized notice to the Class, and scheduled the hearing at which it will decide whether to grant final approval. The notice to class members is dated July 16, 2026.The defendants deny all allegations of wrongdoing, fault, liability, or damage, and say they acted properly and in good faith at all relevant times. They state they agreed to settle solely to avoid the burden, expense, and distraction of continued litigation. No court has found that anyone did anything wrong.
What Was the Continental Resources Lawsuit About?
Continental Resources is an Oklahoma City-based oil and gas producer founded by Harold Hamm. In October 2022, Hamm and his affiliates moved to take the company private, and on November 22, 2022 a tender offer closed that bought out the company's remaining public shareholders at $74.28 per share in cash. Continental's stock stopped trading publicly after that.The consolidated case, In re Continental Resources, Inc. Shareholder Litigation, Case No. CJ-2022-4162, was filed in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. The plaintiffs alleged that Hamm, his affiliates, and several Continental directors and officers breached their fiduciary duties in connection with that buyout. Specifically, the petition alleged that the minority shareholders were cashed out for inadequate consideration after an unfair process; that Hamm and his affiliates engaged in insider trading before the take-private offer was publicly announced; and that other individual defendants breached their duties by approving or recommending the transaction. Those are allegations, and the two remaining defendants — Hamm and former chief executive Bill Berry — deny them.
The case went nearly the full distance. The Court denied a partial motion to dismiss in October 2023, certified the Class in July 2024, and oversaw roughly two years of discovery that included more than 150,000 documents and over 40 depositions. In December 2025 the Court granted summary judgment to two individual defendants, dismissing them from the case, and granted in part and denied in part a summary judgment motion on the insider trading count. A December 2025 mediation failed; the case settled in April 2026 on a mediator's proposal, about three weeks before trial.
Who Qualifies?
The Court certified a Class consisting of former record holders and beneficial owners of Continental Resources common stock who held or owned that stock at any time from October 17, 2022 through November 22, 2022 — the Class Period — including their legal representatives, trustees, executors, administrators, estates, and heirs.Excluded are the defendants and former defendants, their immediate family members, affiliates, subsidiaries, legal representatives, heirs, estates, successors and assigns, any entity in which a defendant or former defendant has or had a controlling interest, and anyone who validly excluded themselves from the Class under the earlier class notice.
Being in the Class and being paid are two different things. Money goes only to Eligible Class Members — those who still held Continental shares at the closing of the take-private transaction and therefore received, or were entitled to receive, the $74.28 per share buyout consideration. If you owned Continental stock during the Class Period but sold before the deal closed, you are bound by the settlement but you do not receive a payment. As the notice puts it, receiving the notice does not mean you are a class member or that you will be entitled to a payment.
How Much Can You Get?
The defendants will pay $60,000,000 in cash into an interest-bearing escrow account for the benefit of the Class. That amount plus interest is the Settlement Fund. Subtracting taxes, notice and administration costs, any attorneys' fees and litigation expenses the Court awards, and any other court-approved costs leaves the Net Settlement Fund, which is what gets distributed.Distribution is strictly pro rata by share count. The administrator divides the Net Settlement Fund by the total number of Eligible Shares to arrive at a Per-Share Recovery, then pays each eligible holder that figure multiplied by the number of Eligible Shares they held at the closing. There are no tiers, no loss calculations, and no recognized-loss formula of the kind used in federal stock-drop cases.
The notice does not publish a per-share dollar estimate, and OCA is not publishing one either. The figure depends on two numbers that are not final: the total Eligible Shares, and how much the Court awards in fees and expenses. Counsel has said it will ask for attorneys' fees of up to 33.33% of the fund plus litigation expenses of up to $6,000,000, and each plaintiff may request a service award of up to $50,000 to be paid out of any fee award rather than from the fund separately. The Court decides those amounts at the November hearing. Class members are not personally liable for any of those fees.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
None. There is no claim form, no Notice ID, no PIN, and no documentation to upload. The administrator identifies who gets paid from the transaction records rather than from claims: for shares held in street name it uses the allocation report generated by the Depository Trust Company for the buyout, which shows how many eligible shares each participating brokerage held, and pays the brokers, who pass each beneficial owner's share down. For shares held of record outside that system, the administrator pays the record holder directly.Because payments follow the same path the original $74.28 per share buyout money took, the useful step is making sure the broker or transfer agent that handled your Continental shares still has your current address and account details. If a payment is undeliverable, or a check goes uncashed past its stale date roughly three months after issue, the broker or record holder follows its own policy on further distribution attempts.
What Is the Deadline?
There is no claim deadline, because there is nothing to file. The dates that matter are these:• The deadline to request exclusion from the Class was April 23, 2026, under the earlier class notice. That window is closed.
• Written objections to the settlement, the Plan of Allocation, or counsel's fee and expense application must be filed with the Court and served on counsel so they are received no later than October 26, 2026. A notice of intention to appear at the hearing carries the same October 26, 2026 receipt deadline.
• The settlement hearing is set for November 10, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. before Judge Richard C. Ogden of the District Court of Oklahoma County.
The notice warns that the date, time, and format of the hearing can change without further mailed notice, and that any change will be posted to the official settlement website.
How Do You Take Action?
For most eligible shareholders the answer is: nothing. Payment is automatic if the Court approves the settlement.If you want to review the underlying documents — the notice, the settlement agreement, the court orders, and the list of parties who excluded themselves — they are posted on the official settlement website, Continental Shareholder Litigation.com. The Oklahoma County docket for the case is also publicly searchable on the Oklahoma State Courts Network.
If you want to object, the notice sets out what the filing must contain: the case name and number, your name, current mailing address, email address if applicable, and telephone number (and your lawyer's, if you have one), your signature, a detailed statement of the specific legal and factual basis for each objection, and documentary evidence sufficient to prove you are a class member. It must be filed with the Clerk of the Court and served on both co-lead counsel and defendants' counsel so that it is received by October 26, 2026. To speak at the hearing, include that request in the objection. Class members who do not object in that manner are treated as having waived any objection, including the right to appeal.
The notice is explicit that class members should not contact the Court or its staff with questions about the settlement terms.
What Happens Next?
At the November 10, 2026 hearing, the Court will decide whether the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate; whether to approve the Plan of Allocation; whether to enter a final order dismissing the case against the remaining defendants with prejudice; and how much to award in attorneys' fees, expenses, and service awards. It will also hear any objections that were properly filed.A hearing being held is not the same as approval being granted. If the Court approves the settlement, the notice states that payments to eligible class members will be made after the Effective Date occurs and any appeals are resolved. Any residual money left in the Net Settlement Fund may be redistributed to identified class members, or, if redistribution would be uneconomic, transferred to one or more non-sectarian 501(c)(3) organizations recommended by counsel and approved by the Court. Any change to the Plan of Allocation may be made without further notice to the Class and will be posted to the settlement website.
Watch Out for Settlement Scams
Because nothing here requires a claim form, anyone asking you to "file" or to pay a fee to release a Continental Resources settlement payment is misinformed or running a scam.• Use the official settlement website only: Continental Shareholder Litigation.com. Watch for look-alike domains in emails or texts.
• Never pay an activation, release, or processing fee. Legitimate settlements do not charge you to receive your own money.
• Do not hand over brokerage credentials. The administrator does not need them — it works from the transaction records and pays through your existing broker.
Questions
Do I need to file a claim for the Continental Resources shareholder settlement?
No. There is no claim form. If the Court approves the settlement, eligible class members are paid automatically. Payments are routed the same way the original $74.28 per share buyout money reached you: if your shares were held in street name, the payment flows through the Depository Trust Company and your broker into that same brokerage account; if you were a registered record holder, the administrator pays you directly.
I owned Continental stock during the class period but sold before the buyout closed. Do I get paid?
No. The Class covers anyone who held or owned Continental common stock at any time from October 17, 2022 through November 22, 2022, and those class members are bound by the settlement. But only Eligible Class Members are paid — the people and entities who still held shares at the closing of the Transaction and therefore received, or were entitled to receive, the $74.28 per share buyout consideration. Receiving the notice does not by itself mean money is owed to you.
How is the per-share payment calculated?
The Net Settlement Fund is divided by the total number of Eligible Shares to produce a Per-Share Recovery, and each eligible holder receives that figure multiplied by the number of Eligible Shares they held at the closing. The Net Settlement Fund is the $60,000,000 plus interest, minus taxes, notice and administration costs, and any attorneys' fees and litigation expenses the Court awards. The official notice does not publish a per-share dollar figure.
Can I still opt out of the Continental Resources settlement?
No. The exclusion window ran under the earlier class notice and closed on April 23, 2026. Class members who did not request exclusion by that date are bound by the settlement. You may still object to the settlement, the Plan of Allocation, or the fee request by filing a written objection with the Court and serving counsel so it is received by October 26, 2026.
When will Continental Resources settlement payments be made?
No payment date has been announced. The Court has scheduled a settlement hearing for November 10, 2026 to decide whether to approve the settlement. The notice states that payments to eligible class members will be made after the Court approves the settlement, the Effective Date occurs, and any appeals are resolved.
I was a broker or bank holding Continental shares for someone else. What do I have to do?
Nominees who already supplied beneficial owners' names and addresses in response to the earlier class notice, and have nothing new to add, need do nothing further — the administrator mails the short-form settlement notice to those holders. Nominees who forwarded notices themselves, or who have new or changed holder information, must forward the short-form settlement notice or supply the updated list to the administrator within seven calendar days of receiving it. Reasonable documented expenses may be reimbursed, subject to the limits in the notice.
Sources and Verification
• Notice of Pendency and Proposed Settlement of Stockholder Class Action, Settlement Hearing, and Right to Appear, In re Continental Resources, Inc. Shareholder Litigation, Case No. CJ-2022-4162 (Dist. Ct. Okla. Cty.), dated July 16, 2026• Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement, Compromise, and Release, dated June 18, 2026
• Order preliminarily approving the settlement, entered July 1, 2026; class certification order, July 15, 2024
• Official Settlement Website: Continental Shareholder Litigation.com
• Case docket: Oklahoma State Courts Network
• Continental Resources Form 8-K reporting completion of the tender offer at $74.28 per share, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• Co-Lead Counsel: Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP; Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
• Settlement Administrator: A.B. Data, Ltd.
Official Settlement Notice
A Note on This Settlement
The official settlement website is the authoritative source for the exact payment terms, dates, and distribution details. OpenClassActions.com is a consumer news site and is not the settlement administrator, class counsel, or a law firm, and we do not process or decide payments. If you are not sure whether you held eligible Continental shares at the closing, check your brokerage records or ask your broker.
For more class actions keep scrolling below.
Settlement Amount
$60,000,000 in cash
Case Title
In re Continental Resources, Inc. Shareholder Litigation
Case Number
CJ-2022-4162
Court
District Court of Oklahoma County, State of Oklahoma
Class Period
October 17, 2022 – November 22, 2022
Objection Deadline
October 26, 2026
Settlement Hearing
November 10, 2026 at 10:00 a.m.
Judge Richard C. Ogden · Oklahoma County Courthouse, Oklahoma City
Co-Lead Counsel
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP; Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
Administrator
A.B. Data, Ltd.
Official Website
Continental Shareholder Litigation.com
