Muscatine Power and Water Data Breach Settlement — $525K

Data Breach · Claims Open

Current Status

Claims are open. The deadline to file is October 26, 2026, online or by email by that date and postmarked by it if the form is mailed, and the notice does not specify a timezone. The deadline to exclude yourself or to object is earlier, on October 9, 2026. The final approval hearing is set for December 17, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time by Zoom before the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, and the court has not ruled on final approval. No payment date has been announced. Nothing here is paid automatically — every benefit requires a claim form, and the online form is opened with a LoginID and PIN from the notice.

What Changed Recently?

The claim process opened under a proposed settlement in Cox v. Muscatine Power and Water, Case No. 07701 CVCV027276, in the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County. Muscatine Power and Water is the municipal utility for Muscatine, Iowa, supplying electricity, water and communications service to the city, so the class here is drawn almost entirely from one community rather than from customers scattered across the country.

The settlement agreement describes a data security incident carried out by a criminal entity on or around January 26, 2024, during which there was unauthorized access to the utility's computer network. Muscatine Power and Water disclosed the incident in or around March 2024, and the petition was filed on March 18, 2024. The utility moved to dismiss twice; on January 23, 2025 the court granted the motion in part and denied it in part, allowing most of the claims to proceed while dismissing the statutory ones. The parties then exchanged information informally and mediated on September 11, 2025. That session did not resolve the case, but negotiations continued and the agreement was signed in the spring of 2026.

The petition alleged negligence, invasion of privacy, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment, along with the two Iowa statutory claims the court dismissed. Muscatine Power and Water denies each of the claims and contentions alleged against it, denies all charges of wrongdoing or liability, and the agreement states expressly that it is settling to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continued litigation rather than as an admission. No court has found that the utility did anything unlawful.

Who Qualifies?

The court has defined the class as all persons Muscatine Power and Water identified as being among those individuals impacted by the data incident, including everyone who was sent a notice of the data breach. The settlement agreement puts the class at approximately 36,995 people.

Membership therefore turns on whether the utility's own records place you in the affected group, not on whether you were a customer at any particular moment. A mailed or emailed notice is the clearest sign of membership, and it is also what carries the credentials needed to file online.

The class excludes the judge in the case together with the judge's family and staff; Muscatine Power and Water and its officers, directors and related companies; and anyone who validly excludes themselves from the settlement.

How Much Can You Get?

Muscatine Power and Water will pay $525,000 into an interest-bearing escrow account, and the agreement caps its liability at that figure. Court-approved attorneys' fees and costs, a service award for the class representative, and the cost of administering the settlement come out of the fund before anything is paid to class members. What is left is the net settlement fund, and it pays the three benefits below. The documents do not estimate a per-person payment, and neither the notice nor the agreement states what administration will cost, so no reliable estimate can be drawn from them.