The $45 million Walmart weighted-groceries settlement paid approved claims involving certain sold-by-weight meat, seafood, poultry, pork, and bagged citrus products, and it is no longer accepting claims.
Current Status
The claim period closed on June 5, 2024, and the court granted final approval on June 28, 2024. According to the official administrator website, payments to approved claimants were distributed, with second attempts for unsuccessful electronic payments and timely payment-information updates continuing into 2026. New claims are not accepted.
The administrator, not Open Class Actions, decides claim eligibility and payment issues. People who filed on time should use the official website for any current notice concerning a returned, expired, or reissued payment.
What the Lawsuit Alleged
The consolidated lawsuits alleged that Walmart customers paid more than the lowest advertised in-store price for certain products sold by weight. The challenged products included some meat, poultry, pork, and seafood items and some organic bagged citrus. Plaintiffs alleged that the point-of-sale price could be higher than the price shown on the shelf label or product packaging.
For bagged citrus, the allegations included an asserted mismatch between the stated weight and the actual weight of certain bags. For weighted meat and similar products, the litigation focused on the relationship between advertised per-unit prices, markdowns, final package prices, and the amount charged at checkout. Walmart denied the allegations and denied wrongdoing or liability. The settlement resolved the dispute without a trial or finding that Walmart violated the law.
Who Was Covered
The settlement class generally included people who bought eligible weighted goods or bagged citrus in person at a Walmart retail store, supercenter, or neighborhood market in the United States or Puerto Rico from October 19, 2018, through January 19, 2024. Online purchases and products outside the settlement definitions were not included merely because they were sold by Walmart.
Eligible weighted goods were covered only when the package and transaction met the definitions in the settlement documents. These broadly involved variable-weight meat, poultry, pork, and seafood products. Eligible bagged citrus involved specified organic oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and navel oranges sold in bags. The official notice remains the controlling source for product and class definitions.
Why Product Details Mattered
The case did not concern a single universal overcharge on everything Walmart sold. Eligibility turned on the product category, how the item was priced or labeled, the store and purchase channel, and the date of purchase. A receipt showing an unrelated grocery item could not support a documented weighted-goods award.
For that reason, the settlement used two claim paths. The purchase-count tiers allowed class members without itemized records to make a sworn claim for a modest scheduled amount, while the documented path allowed a percentage-based calculation tied to eligible purchases. The distinction balanced older transactions for which many shoppers no longer had receipts against the need to validate larger requests.
How Claim Payments Were Calculated
Claimants without receipts selected a purchase-count tier. The scheduled amounts were $10 for up to 50 eligible purchases, $15 for 51 to 75, $20 for 76 to 100, and $25 for 101 or more. Those tiers relied on the claimant's sworn statement rather than itemized proof.
Claimants with receipts or other qualifying documentation could seek 2% of the documented purchase price of eligible goods, up to $500. Documentation had to show information sufficient for the administrator to connect the transaction to an eligible product and the class period. Filing a claim did not guarantee payment; the administrator could validate, deny, adjust, or request information under the settlement procedures.
All awards were subject to the net fund and claims administration. Fees, expenses, notice and administration costs, and court-approved awards were paid according to the final order. If approved claims exceeded available funds, the agreement allowed proportional adjustments rather than guaranteeing the headline maximum to every claimant.
Payment and Reissue History
After final approval, the settlement remained subject to the conditions that made the agreement effective. Distribution then began to approved claimants. The official site's later updates say approved payments were distributed and explain that unsuccessful electronic transfers could receive a second attempt. Timely updates to payment information were handled under the administrator's procedures.
That follow-up work does not reopen the claim deadline. It concerns existing approved claims and delivery issues. A message asking a person to pay a fee, buy a gift card, disclose an account password, or file a brand-new claim outside the administrator's domain should be treated cautiously.
What Distribution Does Not Mean
A distributed-payment notice does not mean every submitted claim was approved or that every claimant received the maximum displayed on the claim form. Claims could be adjusted based on validation, documentation, duplication, the fund formula, or delivery problems. Individual results remain confidential to the claimant and administrator.
It also does not create another opportunity for someone who missed June 5, 2024. Follow-up payment attempts are administrative steps for existing eligible claims, not a second filing period.
What Claimants Should Keep
People who filed should retain the confirmation, claim number, email notices, and payment records until any delivery question is resolved. The settlement administrator may use a claimant's submitted contact and payment information to complete distribution, but Open Class Actions cannot access or change a claim.
The official website remains useful as a historical record of the notice, settlement agreement, final approval, and distribution updates even though the submission portal is closed.
