California residents who visited a Forbes website between Dec. 20, 2023 and June 11, 2026 can file a claim in a $10,000,000 privacy settlement until Nov. 9, according to the settlement administrator. The Forbes Media tracking case, Berman et al. v. Forbes Media, LLC, pays no fixed amount: each valid claimant receives a proportional share of what remains after costs and fees.
A class defined by state, dates and websites
The class covers “all California residents who, from December 20, 2023 to June 11, 2026, accessed websites owned or controlled by Forbes,” according to the administrator’s settlement website. The plaintiffs allege Forbes collected IP addresses and unique identifiers without consent through website trackers and shared that data with third parties, in violation of Section 638.51(a) of California’s Invasion of Privacy Act and the state’s unfair competition law. The claims concern the collection and sharing of that data, not any purchase or account, so a class member does not need to have subscribed to anything on a Forbes site to fit the class definition as the administrator describes it. Forbes denies the allegations, according to the summary notice that Kroll Settlement Administration issued Aug. 10.
The case is No. 3:24-cv-09287-WHO in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Residents of other states are outside the class, however often they read Forbes sites. The deadline to opt out or object, Sept. 24, has passed, which leaves filing a claim as the only way to receive money.
Two claim forms and a Nov. 9 postmark
The settlement site states that “the only way to receive a payment from this settlement is to submit a valid and timely Proof of Claim form.” The claim page offers one form for people who have a Class Member ID, typically those who received direct notice, and another for those without one. Only one claim may be submitted per Class Member ID. The notice does not say how a person without an ID is matched to a visit, so that question goes to the administrator.
The frequently asked questions page says the form must be submitted online no later than Monday, Nov. 9, or mailed on paper with a postmark no later than that date. The pages the administrator has published do not itemize the fields on the form, and neither the notice nor the site describes a requirement to prove visits to Forbes websites. Paper forms go to Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, P.O. Box 225391, New York, NY 10150-5391, and questions go to Kroll at (833) 930-0568. Filing online at MediaSiteTrackerSettlement.com and filing by mail carry the same Nov. 9 cutoff.
Four dates in one settlement
The notice program produced a sequence: Kroll’s summary notice on Aug. 10, the opt-out and objection cutoff on Sept. 24, the claim deadline on Nov. 9 and the final approval hearing on Dec. 2. Only the Nov. 9 date controls whether a claim is timely. The summary notice says Forbes “will pay up to $10,000,000 into a Settlement Fund,” while the administrator’s site states the $10,000,000 figure without the qualifier, so $10,000,000 is the ceiling and the only dollar figure the documents commit to.
What is left after fees and awards
The fund pays administration costs, court-awarded attorneys’ fees and costs, incentive awards and the claimants. The long-form notice says class counsel may request up to 25 percent of the fund, or $2,500,000, plus reimbursable expenses, and adds that “the court may award less than these amounts.” Class representatives Domenica Berman and Abygael Piehl may each receive a $2,500 incentive award.
Those deductions mean claimants share, at most, roughly $7.5 million less administration costs and incentive awards, and the notice gives no per-person estimate. The pages read do not state how many people are in the class, the other half of any per-person calculation. The two $2,500 incentive awards would total $5,000 if approved in full. The final figure depends on how many valid claims arrive by Nov. 9, and the pages read do not say how payments will be delivered. The long-form notice mentions no site-visit verification requirement.
The Dec. 2 hearing and the rights given up
The court’s final approval hearing is set for Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. Pacific time in Courtroom 2 on the 17th floor of the Phillip Burton Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco. Payments cannot be made until the court approves the settlement, and the administrator’s pages do not say when distributions would follow approval.
The notice also states that class members who do not opt out cannot sue, continue to sue or be part of another lawsuit against Forbes over the claims the settlement resolves. The Sept. 24 opt-out date has passed, so the release now covers every class member who did not opt out. Kroll’s website and telephone line, (833) 930-0568, remain the official places to confirm the Nov. 9 filing deadline and the status of the case.
Reading a class action notice date by date
A settlement notice often lists an opt-out date, a claim date, a hearing date and a payment date, and only one of them decides whether a claim counts. Several open settlements at once can mean forms with different deadlines and different claim IDs.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and a claim log and payment tracker for keeping each filing straight.
Log each settlement claim’s deadline and payment status in one tracker →
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
