The final weeks to claim a share in a massive $92.5 million settlement is upon us and eligible claimants do not even need to provide any proof when claiming up to $48,000 in this class action lawsuit.
Decades old case finally reaches settlement agreement
The jails located in city of New York have been facing allegations of illegally detaining individuals and as such a lawsuit was taken out against them. As of December 2024, a settlement was finally reached and eligible Americans now have only a few weeks left to file a claim which could welcome a maximum of $48,000 to their bank accounts.
According to the claims filed by the plaintiffs, the United States Immigrations and Customs Officers were continuing to hold people beyond the dates that had been scheduled for their release. Officially, the process for detaining individuals would include ICE issuing a detainer request to the department for the arrested individuals. This detainer request would ask that the persons be held for 48 hours as deportation proceedings are set in motion.
However, the complaint revealed that the city would continue to detain these individuals well beyond the 48 hour period, with some people even being kept in jail for months after their scheduled release date. The class action lawsuit has alleged that approximately 20,000 people were illegally detained by the city.
Payment details and eligibility
This city has not admitted to any wrongdoing in this case of illegal detainment, however, it has agreed to make a massive settlement payment of $92.5 million to the affected parties.
According to the terms of the settlement, eligible claimants can receive a maximum amount of $48,000. The amount that each claimant will receive has been categorized, with the first being the Statute of Limitations Group.
The Statute of Limitations Group applies to class members who had been detained beyond their scheduled release date for the period of April 1, 1997 to January 31, 2007. This group of class members will be eligible to receive between $10,000 and $24,000 each from the settlement total.
The next group is the Recent Group which consists of individuals who were held illegally between the dates of February 1, 2007 and December 21, 2012. This group is eligible to potentially receive double the compensation of the Statute of Limitations Group. The Recent Group can claim between $20,000 and $48,000.
Eligible class members must have all claims filed by no later than May 15, 2025.
Claimants are not required to provide any proof when submitting their claim, however, there is a certain eligibility criteria that must be met in order for the claim to be approved.
The first criteria to be met is that the individual must have been detained past their scheduled release date by the the New York City Department of Correction. Additionally, this detention must have taken place between the dates of April 1, 1997 and December 21, 2012.
Furthermore, the individual must have been detained despite fulfilling their conditions for release. Finally, the detention must have been a result of a request from ICE and it must have been managed by the New York City Department of Corrections.
All eligible claimants who are participating in this class action lawsuit will have been alerted of the settlement agreement and subsequently received a notice containing an ID number.
Claimants will use this ID number in order to gain access to the claim form on the settlement website.
If an eligible claimant has failed to receive a notice or cannot access the claim form, they may enter O in the ID area and enter in their last name.
October 6, 2025 has been scheduled for the final approval hearing, after which payments will be made to claimants.
May 15, 2025 is the also the final date for any exclusions or objections.