Americold Data Breach Class Action Settlement

Data Breach · Claims Open

Current Status

Claims are open. The deadline to file is October 22, 2026, and the Notice states that date without a cutoff time or timezone, so do not assume one. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted final approval on October 6, 2026, in an order that also awarded attorneys' fees, expenses and service awards. The claim window stays open after approval because the claim deadline falls later than the hearing date. No payment date had been announced as of October 20, 2026; under the Notice, benefits are distributed after final approval and after any appeals are resolved.

What Changed Recently?

The court granted preliminary approval of the settlement in Lamont Bracy, et al. v. Americold Logistics, LLC, Case No. 1:23-cv-05743-TWT, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, and the claim process is now open through the settlement administrator, Kroll Settlement Administration. Americold Realty Trust and Americold Logistics, LLC have agreed to pay $5,250,000 into a settlement fund, and the court granted final approval of the deal on October 6, 2026.

The case reached this point after a contested round of motion practice. On February 19, 2025, Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. ruled on Americold's motion to dismiss, granting it as to four of the counts and denying it as to three, which left part of the case alive and headed toward either trial or a negotiated resolution.

Americold denies all allegations of liability and wrongdoing, and the court has not decided in favor of either side. The Notice states that the parties agreed to settle to avoid the costs and risks of a trial.

Who Qualifies?

The settlement class is all persons in the United States who were notified by Americold that their private information was impacted in the data incidents. In practice, if you received a notice from Americold about either the 2020 incident or the 2023 incident, you are a class member, and the Notice states that Americold's records are what identify you as one.

The people affected were current and former employees and job applicants rather than retail customers, which makes this a narrower class than most consumer data breach settlements. It is nationwide and is not limited to Georgia, even though the case is pending in Atlanta.

Excluded from the class are Americold, any entity in which Americold has a controlling interest, and Americold's officers, directors, legal representatives, successors, subsidiaries and assigns; any judge, justice or judicial officer presiding over the case, along with the members of their immediate families and judicial staff; and anyone who timely and validly opts out.

Two separate cybersecurity incidents are covered. The first occurred on or about November 16, 2020, and the second on or about April 26, 2023. According to the Notice, the private information involved may have included full names, Social Security numbers, addresses, driver's license numbers, state identification numbers, passport numbers, financial account information, health insurance information and medical information. Americold began notifying people about the 2020 incident on or about March 4, 2021 and about the 2023 incident on or about December 8, 2023. The Notice does not state how many people were notified. If you are new to how these cases work, our data breach class action explainer walks through the stages from notice to payment.

How Much Can You Get?

With the settlement approved, Americold pays $5,250,000 into a fund. Court-approved attorneys' fees and expenses, service awards, administration costs and the cost of providing the credit monitoring come out of that fund first, and the balance pays class member benefits. There are three benefits, and the two cash options are described in the Notice as available and/or, so you are not forced to pick just one.