| Case | Esposito, et al. v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, No. MID-L-6360-23 |
| Court | Superior Court of New Jersey |
| Status | Closed, no longer accepting claims |
| Claim deadline | April 15, 2024 |
| Estimated payout | Claims closed. Formula was $15 per account plus $1 per month of charges, capped at $100, reduced pro rata; reported payments started January 2025 and many were under $15 |
| Proof required | No |
| How to file | No claim form available |
If you’re looking for a class action settlement Verizon still owes you, there isn’t an open one to file in. The $100 million Verizon administrative charge deal stopped accepting filings in April 2024, and the settlement administrator started sending payments in January 2025. As of September 29, 2026, no new form is open to Verizon wireless customers. If you filed on time, your money should already have arrived.
What the Administrative Charge Case Was About
The lawsuit claimed the carrier advertised flat monthly plan prices, then added a recurring “Administrative Charge” or “Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge” to postpaid bills. Plaintiffs called it a hidden price increase. The complaint described the fee as a “revenue lever” the company could raise whenever it wanted, according to ClassAction.org’s summary of the filing.
The company settled without admitting wrongdoing and agreed to a $100 million fund. The case is Esposito v. Cellco Partnership, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey. Cellco Partnership is the legal entity that does business as Verizon Wireless, which is why that name, not the brand, appears on the court papers and on some bank deposit descriptions.
Who Was a Class Member, and Who Wasn’t
A class member was a current or former U.S. account holder with a postpaid phone plan who paid one of the two charges between January 1, 2016, and November 8, 2023. Being eligible wasn’t enough to get paid. You also had to file a claim by April 15, 2024.
- Prepaid customers were out. The class covered postpaid service only.
- Home internet alone didn’t count. The fee at issue sat on wireless plans, so a Fios-only household had nothing to claim.
- Line users weren’t separate claimants. Payment was per account, so a family of five on one plan got one payment, sent to the account holder.
- Charges after November 8, 2023 aren’t covered. Fees you paid later fall outside the release.
Why the Settlement Payment Was So Small
Because the formula was a ceiling, not a promise. Each account was set to receive $15 plus $1 for every month it paid the charge, capped at $100. The fine print said amounts could drop depending on how many people filed, and they did. CBS News reported on January 7, 2025 that one customer received $2.37.
Here’s the math most guides skip. Suppose you paid the fee for 60 months. The formula says $15 plus $60, or $75. If filings came in high enough that the administrator had to scale every award down by 85%, that same account gets about $11. The pro rata cut applies to everyone equally, which is why long-time customers and newer ones both saw single or low double digits.
Claimants picked a payment method when they filed: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, a virtual prepaid card, or a paper check, per ClaimDepot’s case tracker. People who never saw theirs usually find it as a PayPal or Venmo notice they overlooked, or an email from the administrator that went to a junk folder.
Every Class Action Lawsuit Against Verizon We Tracked, by Status
None of these cases is open for claims right now. When we checked court trackers and case news in September 2026, this is what we found.
| Case | What it’s about | Status, September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Esposito v. Cellco Partnership | Monthly administrative charge | Closed, paid starting January 2025 |
| Barcomb v. TracFone Wireless | December 2021 prepaid customer breach | Closed August 7, 2025; payments began April 9, 2026 |
| Malacon v. Verizon Communications | 2023 insider breach of about 63,000 employees’ records | Filed 2024, no settlement found |
| Parker v. Verizon Communications | Voice ID voiceprints under Illinois biometric law | Filed 2024, Illinois only, no settlement found |
| Daffin and Webb v. ABC Phones (Victra) | 2026 breach at an authorized retailer | Filed 2026, early stage |
The Victra suits target a retailer, not the carrier. Victra runs stores under the brand as an authorized dealer, so any future payout there would come from that company. Our data breach list tracks cases like it.
You may also see the location data fine in the news. That isn’t a consumer case. The FCC fined the company $46.9 million over the sale of customer location data, the Supreme Court upheld the FCC’s power to issue those fines in June 2026, and in August 2026 it refused Verizon’s bid to get the money back. No consumer refund came out of it.
The TracFone Case Covers Straight Talk and Total Wireless
The TracFone data breach settlement is the other deal Verizon customers most often mix up with the fee case. TracFone is a prepaid carrier Verizon owns, and its brands include Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, Net10, Walmart Family Mobile, and Total Wireless. It offered up to $3,250 for ordinary losses and up to $50,000 for documented identity theft, plus three years of credit monitoring. The claim deadline was August 7, 2025, the court approved the deal on February 3, 2026, and the administrator began paying approved claims on April 9, 2026.
Filed a Claim but Never Got Paid?
Start with the email address you used on the claim form. Search that inbox, including spam, for messages from the administrator, then check the PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle account tied to it. After that, contact the administrator through the official settlement website with your claim ID. To protect yourself, don’t pay anyone who offers to “recover” a settlement payment for a fee. That’s a common scam, and the real administrator never charges you.
Missed the deadline entirely? Then you lose your share. Late filings aren’t accepted once a fund is distributed, and forum threads describing a second round of payments haven’t been backed by any court filing we found.
The next class action settlement Verizon agrees to will get its own claim site and notice emails, so the practical move is to keep your account email current and check our guide to joining a class action when a new one opens. If you also carry service from another carrier, see our pages on AT&T settlements and T-Mobile settlements.
Verizon Settlement FAQ
Has the Verizon class action settlement been paid?
Yes. Payments from the $100 million administrative charge settlement started in January 2025 through the payment method each claimant chose. Most reported amounts were well under the $100 cap.
How much did people get from the Verizon settlement?
Most customers got a few dollars to just under $15, not the up to $100 figure in the notice. The formula was reduced pro rata because of claim volume, and CBS News reported one payment of $2.37.
Is there a new class action lawsuit Verizon customers can join?
Not with an open claim form as of September 29, 2026. Suits filed in 2024 over an employee breach and Illinois Voice ID recordings have no settlement we could find. You don’t sign up for an unsettled case; if one settles, class members get a notice.
Was the Verizon settlement email legit?
The real notices came from the court-appointed administrator and pointed to verizonadministrativechargesettlement.com. A legitimate notice never asks for a fee, a gift card, or your phone account password.
This page summarizes public information about legal cases. It is not legal advice. If you need advice about your own situation, talk to a licensed attorney.