Texans could soon start receiving payments related to an AT&T settlement following two data breaches in 2024. The payout timeline has been revealed, as a federal court gave its final approval of the agreement terms early this month.
Here’s what Texans need to know.
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AT&T data breach settlement payout timeline
A memorandum opinion and order from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, requires that payments be distributed electronically or by paper check within 60 days of the “Effective Date.”
When should we expect the AT&T settlement payout?
The settlement agreement defines the effective date as “10 days after the time for appeal of the Final Approval Order runs.” This court granted final approval of the settlement on Friday, October 2.
That means AT&T has 30 days to file an appealunder Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(A), making the deadlineMonday, November 2.
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The agreement also states that “If an appeal is filed, then the Effective Date shall be 30 days after the last appellate court ruling affirming the Final Approval Order or 30 days after the entry of a dismissal of the appeal when there is no remaining right to appeal.” This places the effective date around Thursday, November 12, if no appeal or deadline-extending motion is filed. No official date has been announced; this is the best estimate.
Who qualifies for AT&T settlement?
Two major data breaches occurred in 2024, according to court records. One happened in March and involved the leak of AT&T-specific fields contained in a data set released on the dark web. The other occurred in July. During the second instance, “certain limited data had been illegally downloaded from an AT&T workspace on a third-party cloud platform hosted by Snowflake, Inc.,” according to the settlement website. AT&T said on its website that the data appeared to be from 2019 or earlier.
Despite some exceptions, anyone involved in the leaks, which included Social Security numbers, phone numbers, addresses and more for some 7.6 million active customers and 65.4 million former customers, is considered a member of the AT&T 1 Settlement Class or the AT&T 2 Settlement Class.
Eligible members would have received emails from the domain “attsettlement@e.emailksa.com.” Anyone unsure whether they qualified can call (833) 890-4930 for information.
Why is there a class action lawsuit against AT&T?
Several plaintiffs joined a consolidated class action against AT&T after it announced the pair of data breaches, with allegations including that savings had been “fraudulently drained from their accounts,” that they noticed “unauthorized loans taken out in their name,” and that “credit ratings dropped precipitously due to fraudulent activity on their accounts,” among other claims.
In December 2024, representatives from a class action suit filed in Montana and another in Texas agreed to early-stage mediation, agreeing to a $149 million payout for the March data breach and a $28 million settlement for the July incident.
How much is the AT&T settlement payout per person?
An AT&T 1 Settlement Class Member can receive up to $5,000 if they can show proof that the losses were “fairly” traceable to the March data incident and submit a claim form by the deadline listed on the settlement website.
The deadline to file a claim for either class eligibility was in December 2025.
