Published
August 24, 2026
This settlement resolves claims that Star Casualty Insurance Company left title and tag transfer fees out of what it paid on totaled vehicles, and deducted excess storage and towing charges from the actual cash value. If you had a Florida Star Casualty policy and a total loss settled between March 2018 and June 2026, you can claim up to $279.85 plus interest — and none of it is reduced by attorneys' fees.
Current Status
Claims are open. A claim form must be postmarked, or submitted online by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, no later than October 26, 2026. There is an earlier and easily missed date: September 14, 2026 is the deadline to exclude yourself, to object, or to file a notice of intent to appear. The Court granted preliminary approval and has scheduled a fairness hearing for October 12, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. in a virtual courtroom, which falls two weeks before claims close. No final approval order has been entered and no payment date had been announced as of August 24, 2026.
Status
Claims Open
Claim Deadline
October 26, 2026
Online by 11:59 p.m. Eastern · mailed forms postmarked by the same date
Estimated Payout
Up to $279.85
$79.85 in title and tag fees, plus up to $200 in storage and towing repayment, plus interest · offset by anything already paid
Proof Required
Yes
Claim ID and PIN from the mailed or emailed notice to file online
What Changed Recently?
The Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, preliminarily approved the settlement and authorized notice to the class, which is what opened the claim window and put the October 12, 2026 fairness hearing on the calendar. The case is Maxim Kharevich v. Star Casualty Insurance Company, Case No. 2023-013380-CA-01.The underlying dispute is narrow and mechanical, which is part of why the payments are small and predictable rather than pro rata. The lawsuit alleges Star Casualty breached its Florida auto policies and applicable law in two ways: by failing to pay title transfer fees and tag transfer fees as part of the actual cash value of vehicles it declared a total loss, and by improperly deducting excess storage and towing charges from those actual cash value payments.
Star Casualty denies the allegations. It maintains that it complied with the terms of its insurance policies and with applicable law, and denies that it acted wrongfully or unlawfully. The Court has not decided who is right; the parties agreed to settle instead of litigating to judgment. Florida total loss disputes of this shape have produced their own settlements elsewhere — the Progressive total loss settlement and the Tennessee Farmers Mutual total loss settlement both turned on what an insurer owes beyond the vehicle's base value.
Who Qualifies?
You are a Settlement Class Member if, between March 22, 2018 and June 26, 2026, all three of the following are true:- You were insured under a Florida automobile insurance policy issued by Star Casualty;
- You submitted a first-party claim that was adjusted as a total loss and settled by Star Casualty on an actual cash value basis; and
- You either did not receive the full amount of the title transfer fees and tag transfer fees, or had excess storage or towing charges deducted from your actual cash value payment, or both.
Note the "first-party" limit: this covers claims you made on your own Star Casualty policy, not claims made against a Star Casualty insured by someone else.
The class excludes Star Casualty itself along with its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, employees and their immediate family members; the Settlement Administrator, Class Counsel and Defense Counsel; the presiding judge, the judge's staff and immediate family; anyone whose total loss payment already included the full title and tag transfer fees and had no excess storage or towing deduction; anyone who submits a timely and valid request for exclusion; and anyone whose first-party property damage claim was already in or through appraisal, arbitration or a lawsuit when the Settlement Agreement was filed.
How Much Can You Get?
This settlement pays a calculated amount rather than a share of a fund, so the arithmetic is knowable in advance. A class member who submits a valid and timely claim receives:- Up to $79.85 in unpaid transfer fees — a $75.25 title transfer fee plus a $4.60 tag transfer fee; and/or
- Repayment of any improper excess storage and towing deductions applied to the actual cash value payment, capped at $25 per day for up to 8 days, or $200 maximum; plus
- Prejudgment interest on the unpaid amounts.
Recoveries are offset by any amount Star Casualty already paid you for the same fees or storage, so most class members will land below the ceiling. The Notice works a middle case: someone whose payment omitted both transfer fees and included a five-day storage deduction at $25 per day receives $79.85 + $125.00 = $204.85, plus interest, less anything already paid. Both parts at their maximum come to $279.85 plus interest.
One term here is unusually favorable and worth stating plainly: the fees do not come out of your payment. Star Casualty has agreed to pay the notice and administration costs, class counsel's attorneys' fees and costs of up to $185,000, and a $5,000 service award for the class representative — all separately, and the Notice states these will not reduce or impact the money available to class members. In most settlements those amounts are carved out of a common fund before anyone is paid; here they are not, so a valid claim collects its full calculated value. Class counsel's fee and service award request was due to be filed and posted to the settlement website by August 28, 2026, 45 days before the hearing.
What Proof or Claim ID Is Required?
Yes, filing requires an administrator-issued identifier. The online claim form asks for the Claim ID and PIN printed on the notice mailed or emailed to class members, and the online verification step will not proceed without both. That makes this a proof-required settlement even though no receipts, repair invoices or adjuster paperwork are requested — the administrator is matching claims against Star Casualty's own records rather than asking you to document anything.Class members who received a mailed notice got a pre-filled paper claim form attached to it, with postage prepaid, which only has to be signed, detached at the perforation and mailed. If you no longer have your notice, the Notice states you can contact the Settlement Administrator with your last name and address to get help identifying your Claim ID and PIN, and can request that a pre-filled or blank paper form be sent to you. Contact details are on the official settlement website. File one way or the other, not both — the Notice is explicit that a mailed form makes an online submission unnecessary and vice versa.
What Are the Deadlines?
Two dates matter, and they are six weeks apart, which is the trap on this page:- September 14, 2026 — exclusion, objection and notice of intent to appear. A request for exclusion must be postmarked or received by this date and mailed to the Settlement Administrator, in writing, containing the case name and number, your full name, your current address, your name or address at the time of the total loss if different, a clear statement that you want to be excluded, and your signature. An objection must be filed with the Court and copies postmarked to Class Counsel and Defense Counsel by the same date, and carries a longer list of requirements including a sworn statement of class membership and any prior objections you have made in the last five years.
- October 26, 2026 — claim deadline. Mailed claim forms must be postmarked by this date; online submissions must be completed by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. This is the only route to a payment.
Because the opt-out date falls first, a class member who is undecided has to make the harder choice earlier. Staying in costs nothing and preserves the claim; excluding yourself forfeits the payment but keeps the right to sue Star Casualty separately over the released claims. Doing nothing at all is the worst of both — you are still bound by the release and you receive no money.
What Do You Give Up?
Class members who do not exclude themselves release claims against Star Casualty and the Released Parties relating to unpaid sales tax, title transfer fees, tag transfer fees and excess storage or towing deductions on first-party insured vehicles declared a total loss and paid by Star Casualty from March 22, 2018 through June 26, 2026.The release has a limit worth noticing. It does not cover claims alleging that Star Casualty failed to properly calculate the value of a total loss vehicle, except to the extent such a claim relates to the fees or the storage and towing deductions above. In other words, a dispute about what your car was actually worth is not swept in by this settlement; a dispute about the transfer fees and storage charges layered on top of that valuation is. The full definition of Released Parties is in the Settlement Agreement on the official settlement website.
How Do You Take Action?
Filing is done through the official Star Casualty total loss settlement website, which hosts the online claim submission page, the process for requesting a paper claim form, an exclusion form, the full Settlement Agreement, the complaint, the fee and service award motion once filed, and any changes to the hearing date.To file online, enter your Claim ID and PIN on the online claim verification page and follow the steps. To file on paper, sign and mail the pre-filled form attached to your notice, or request a form through the settlement website. A Spanish-language version of the notice is available through the site's court documents page.
OpenClassActions is not the settlement administrator and cannot look up your Claim ID, confirm whether Star Casualty's records list your total loss, or tell you what your payment will be. Those answers come from the official settlement website.
What Happens Next?
The Court will hold the fairness hearing on October 12, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. in a virtual courtroom, and will decide whether the settlement is fair, adequate and reasonable, whether any objections have merit, and whether to approve the attorneys' fees and the service award. Attendance is optional — the Notice states that a properly filed and mailed written objection is considered whether or not the objector appears. The Notice also warns that the hearing may be postponed without further notice, so the settlement website is the place to confirm it.A hearing being held is not the same as approval being granted. If the Court does approve the settlement, the Notice states that payments will be distributed within 90 days of the Effective Date, which arrives after final approval and after any objections and appeals are resolved. No payment date had been announced as of August 24, 2026.
Sources and Verification
- Court-approved Long Form Notice of Class Action Settlement in Maxim Kharevich v. Star Casualty Insurance Company, Case No. 2023-013380-CA-01 (Fla. 11th Jud. Cir., Miami-Dade Cnty.) — embedded below.
- Official settlement website, including its FAQ, online claim verification page and important court documents page, which hosts the Settlement Agreement and the complaint.
- Case file for Civil Action No. 2023-013380-CA-01, available from the Office of the Clerk, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade County, Florida.
The Court appointed Normand, Judkins & Couch, PLLC and Irvin & Irvin, PLLC as Class Counsel. Class members are not charged for that representation. Note that the court-approved Notice does not name the firm serving as Settlement Administrator, so this page does not identify one; the settlement website is the channel for administrator contact.
Questions
Do attorneys' fees come out of my Star Casualty settlement payment?
No. The Notice states that Star Casualty pays the administration costs, the attorneys' fees and costs of up to $185,000, and the service award separately, and that those payments do not reduce or impact the money available to Settlement Class Members. A class member who submits a valid, complete and timely claim receives the full payment without any deduction for fees.
What is the most the Star Casualty settlement can pay one person?
Up to $279.85 plus prejudgment interest, if both parts apply to you. That is $79.85 in unpaid title and tag transfer fees, made up of a $75.25 title transfer fee and a $4.60 tag transfer fee, plus repayment of improper excess storage and towing deductions capped at $25 per day for up to 8 days, or $200. Recoveries are offset by anything Star Casualty already paid you for the same fees or storage, so most payments will be lower.
Why are there two different deadlines in the Star Casualty settlement?
They govern different choices, and the earlier one is easy to miss. September 14, 2026 is the deadline to exclude yourself, to object, or to file a notice of intent to appear at the fairness hearing. October 26, 2026 is the deadline to file a claim, which is the only way to get paid. Filing a claim is not a way to preserve the right to opt out, and the opt-out date passes six weeks before claims close.
I lost the notice with my Claim ID and PIN. Can I still file?
The online claim form requires the Claim ID and PIN printed on the mailed or emailed notice. The Notice states that a class member who does not know their Claim ID can contact the Settlement Administrator with their last name and address to get help identifying it, and can also request that a pre-filled or blank paper claim form be sent. Contact details are on the official settlement website.
My total loss claim was years ago. Am I too late?
Not on age alone. The class period runs from March 22, 2018 through June 26, 2026, so a total loss settled as far back as March 2018 can qualify. What matters is that you were insured under a Florida auto policy issued by Star Casualty, that the claim was adjusted as a total loss and settled on an actual cash value basis, and that you either did not receive the full title and tag transfer fees or had excess storage or towing deducted.
When will Star Casualty settlement payments be sent?
The Notice states that payments will be distributed within 90 days of the Effective Date, which arrives after the Court grants final approval and any objections and appeals are resolved. The fairness hearing is scheduled for October 12, 2026, but a hearing being held is not the same as approval being granted, and no payment date had been announced as of August 24, 2026.
Official Settlement Notice
For more class actions keep scrolling below.
Settlement Amount
No aggregate fund
Star Casualty pays each valid claim individually, plus fees and costs separately
Case Title
Maxim Kharevich v. Star Casualty Insurance Company
Case Number
2023-013380-CA-01
Court
Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade County, Florida
Final Approval Hearing
October 12, 2026 at 8:30 AM ET
Virtual courtroom — the Notice warns it may be postponed without further notice
Official Website
Star Casualty Total Loss Settlement.com
