How we verify settlements

Official records come first

News coverage and settlement directories can help us discover a case. For new guides and material factual updates, we check the settlement administrator's website, official notices and claim forms, court documents, or a government agency's case records. A news article alone does not establish that claims are open.

We check filing status, eligibility, benefits, proof requirements and deadlines against those records. If the evidence is missing or conflicts, we leave the point unconfirmed rather than inventing an answer. The official documents determine the settlement's terms.

What the dates and evidence mean

• Last updated is the date of a substantive change to our page.
• Sources last checked records an actual review of the official sources. It is separate from the page's publication or update date.
• Claims opened appears only when an official source establishes the opening date. Finding a case today does not mean it opened today.
• Evidence for key facts connects a fact to a dated source excerpt and, where available, a document section or page.

We are adding this evidence detail as pages are reviewed. Older guides may have a source list without a recorded verification date or individual excerpts. We do not fill those gaps with estimated dates. A dated excerpt records what the source said at that check; the source may change afterward.

Benefits and deadlines need context

A settlement fund is not a payment to each person. An advertised maximum, a calculated estimate and a confirmed payment are different things. We explain the distinction and preserve conditions such as documentation, claim approval and adjustments based on participation.

We distinguish filing deadlines from court hearings and payment dates. When a filing deadline passes, we retain the guide for people checking an existing claim. That change alone does not mean the court has approved the settlement or payments have been sent. When we have verified an exact filing cutoff and time zone, our listings use that time. When only a date is recorded, listings use the end of that date in UTC. Follow the official filing instructions for the cutoff time and any mailing requirements.

How we use automation

Automated tools help us find changes, extract information and draft explanations. We check factual statements against official records before publication. Agreement between AI tools is not evidence that a claim is correct. Material changes can be recorded in the page's update history.

Our public guides are accessible to readers, search engines and AI crawlers, including crawlers used for model training. This access concerns public editorial pages, not personal account or submitted-claim information.

Our role and coverage

ClaimBee is an independent service, not a settlement administrator, court or law firm. Our guides provide general information; they do not determine your eligibility or guarantee approval or payment.

We cover US settlements across categories. A public guide can exist even when that settlement is not available for filing in the ClaimBee app. Coverage is not exhaustive. You can read these guides and follow official links without a ClaimBee subscription; our paid services are separate.