American Express Lawsuit: One $17.5 Million Settlement, Several Open Cases, and Who Actually Gets Paid
Questions about this case?
AI Legal Assistant · free · answers in seconds · general information, not legal advice
The American Express lawsuit most people are searching for was not brought by Amex cardholders. Moskowitz v. American Express — first filed as Oliver — was brought by people who paid with Visa, Mastercard and Discover cards, and it ended in a $17.5 million settlement that a federal court approved on July 7, 2026. Only one group gets money: Illinois holders of credit cards with no rewards and no annual fee, whose claim deadline was May 19, 2026. Around it sit merchant antitrust suits, a retirement-plan class action and the January 2025 Justice Department penalties. Each is set out separately below, as of September 30, 2026.
Editorially Reviewed — Content reviewed for accuracy using published legal research, government data, and verified court records. See our methodology
Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
What the Anti-Steering Case Claimed
Amex's merchant agreements contain anti-steering and non-discrimination rules: a store that accepts American Express may not push shoppers toward a card that costs the store less to process. The Amex class action filed on January 29, 2019 alleged that those rules led merchants to raise prices for everyone to cover Amex's fees — so customers who never used an Amex card paid more too. The plaintiffs held Visa, Mastercard and Discover credit and debit cards, not Amex cards.
The court dismissed the federal antitrust claim and kept state antitrust and consumer-protection claims for certified classes in nine jurisdictions. After a trial that ended on August 28, 2025, the jury found for Amex on every claim except one Illinois consumer-law claim for Illinois holders of non-rewards credit cards, and awarded that class $12.5 million. The parties then settled before final judgment. Amex denies wrongdoing; Visa, Mastercard, Discover and the retailers involved are not accused of anything.
Case Details
Consumer case: Moskowitz v. American Express Co., No. 19-CV-566, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York — the same case earlier called Oliver v. American Express. Official settlement website: AmexAntitrust.com, run by the administrator A.B. Data.
Merchant cases: Pizza Hazel, Inc. v. American Express Co. (D. Mass., filed September 30, 2024) for merchants that accept Amex through the OptBlue Program, and 5-Star General Store aka Bento LLC v. American Express Co. (D.R.I., filed March 21, 2024). In both, the trial court refused to send the case to arbitration and Amex appealed to the First Circuit. B&R Supermarket v. Visa (E.D.N.Y.), a merchant class action over the EMV chip liability shift, in which Amex's settlement with the merchant class was approved by the court on April 27, 2026.
Other cases: Rivetti v. American Express Co. (S.D.N.Y., filed May 15, 2026), a proposed ERISA class action over the American Express Retirement Savings Plan; a fraudulent-transfer suit by the wind-down estate of Kabbage in the Delaware bankruptcy court seeking up to about $746 million; and Pohl v. American Express National Bank (E.D. Cal.), one person's credit-reporting case.
Status as of September 30, 2026, Case by Case
Merchant anti-steering suits (Pizza Hazel, 5-Star): pending. Amex's First Circuit appeals over arbitration were open at its quarterly report of July 24, 2026. These are merchants' claims, not shoppers'.
B&R Supermarket (merchants, EMV chips): Amex's part settled, approved April 27, 2026.
January 2025 Justice Department resolutions: resolved. A civil penalty, a criminal fine and a forfeiture paid to the United States; the announcements describe no claims process for customers.
Rivetti (retirement plan): pending. Filed May 15, 2026; Amex says it will defend vigorously.
Anti-money-laundering: enforcement expected. In the same July 2026 report Amex said it expects an enforcement action over parts of its anti-money-laundering programs, which could include civil money penalties — a regulatory penalty, not a customer fund. The report's legal note lists no shareholder securities class action.
Who Was in the $17.5 Million Settlement, and Who Gets Paid
Paid: the Illinois non-rewards credit card class. You are in it if you are an individual whose billing address was in Illinois at some point from January 29, 2016 to June 1, 2022, you had a Visa, Mastercard or Discover general-purpose credit or charge card that offered no rewards and charged no annual fee, and you (or an authorized user) used it at one of 38 Qualifying Merchants in Illinois in that period. The list includes Walmart and Sam's Club, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, Kroger, Jewel-Osco, CVS, Walgreens and Best Buy. Pharmacy purchases where you paid only a flat insurance copay do not count. To be paid you had to file a claim by May 19, 2026.
Included but not paid: Visa and Mastercard debit card holders who shopped at those merchants in Alabama, D.C., Maine, North Carolina, Oregon or Utah (January 29, 2015 to June 1, 2022) or in Kansas, Illinois or Mississippi (January 29, 2016 to June 1, 2022), plus non-rewards credit card holders in D.C. and Kansas. The jury found no damages for those classes. They get no money, and unless they excluded themselves earlier, they have released these claims against Amex.
Amex cardholders were never part of this case. It was about what people paying with other cards were charged.
What Anyone Actually Gets
Everything else: the Justice Department money went to the government; the merchant suits and the EMV settlement concern businesses; the retirement-plan case has no settlement and no fund; the credit-reporting suit is one person's case. As of September 30, 2026, none of the cases on this page has an open claim form for individual consumers.
American Express Lawsuit Timeline
- 1
January 29, 2019 — The Oliver Case Is Filed
Holders of Visa, Mastercard and Discover cards sue Amex in the Eastern District of New York over its anti-steering rules. The case later takes the name Moskowitz.
- 2
September 30, 2024 — Merchants Sue in Massachusetts
Pizza Hazel is filed for merchants on the OptBlue Program, after the Rhode Island 5-Star General Store case of March 21, 2024. Both go to the First Circuit on arbitration.
- 3
January 16, 2025 — Justice Department Resolutions
Amex agrees to a $108.7 million civil penalty over small-business card and wire sales practices and signs a non-prosecution agreement with a $77,696,000 fine and $60.7 million forfeiture over wire products.
- 4
August 28, 2025 — The Jury Verdict
After trial, the jury finds for Amex on every claim except one: Illinois holders of non-rewards credit cards, awarded $12.5 million.
- 5
May 19 and July 7, 2026 — Claims Close, Court Approves
The claim deadline for the Illinois class passes on May 19. On July 7 the court grants final approval to the $17.5 million settlement.
- 6
September 30, 2026 — Waiting on Payment
No payment date has been announced. The merchant appeals and the Rivetti retirement-plan suit were pending at Amex's report of July 24, 2026, and Amex expects an anti-money-laundering enforcement action.
Three Things to Watch For
A settlement whose claim window has closed but whose payment date is unknown is exactly when fake “Amex settlement” messages do best:
“Pay a fee to release your Amex settlement check”
Administration costs come out of the fund before anything is split; claimants are not billed for their share. The real administrator is A.B. Data, reachable through AmexAntitrust.com or 1-877-315-0587 — check any message against those, never against a number the message gives you.
Requests for your Amex card number “to confirm class membership”
The class was defined by Visa, Mastercard and Discover cards, not Amex cards, and the claim window closed on May 19, 2026. A text or call asking for your American Express card number, security code or login to “verify” you is phishing.
“Claim your share of the Justice Department settlement”
The January 2025 resolutions were a penalty, a fine and a forfeiture paid to the United States. The official announcements describe no claims process for customers, so a site offering to recover “your share” for a fee is selling something those announcements do not describe.
American Express Lawsuit — Questions People Actually Ask
Is there an American Express lawsuit I can get money from?
Of the cases on this page, only one consumer case has produced money: the $17.5 million Moskowitz (formerly Oliver) settlement, and only for the Illinois non-rewards credit card class. Its claim deadline was May 19, 2026. If you filed a valid claim, you wait for the administrator; the settlement site describes no way to file after the deadline.
I never had an Amex card. Why was I in an Amex class action?
Because the theory was about prices, not cards. The case argued that stores accepting American Express could not steer shoppers to cheaper cards and so raised prices for everyone. The classes were people paying with Visa, Mastercard or Discover cards at 38 named retailers in nine jurisdictions.
When will the $17.5 million settlement pay, and how much?
Neither has been published. The court granted final approval on July 7, 2026, and the settlement site says payments follow final approval and the resolution of any appeals. The net fund is divided into equal shares among valid Illinois claimants, so the amount depends on how many filed. Questions go to A.B. Data at 1-877-315-0587.
I used a debit card at Walmart or Target in one of the listed states. Do I get anything?
No. You may be in a certified debit card class, but the jury found no damages for the debit card classes, and the settlement pays only the Illinois non-rewards credit card class. The settlement still releases your claims against Amex unless you excluded yourself before that deadline passed.
Did Amex customers get refunds from the January 2025 Justice Department case?
The announcements describe a $108.7 million civil penalty and a non-prosecution agreement with a $77,696,000 criminal fine and $60.7 million in forfeiture, with a $30.35 million credit between them. What they covered (the civil claims are allegations only, except conduct admitted in the criminal resolution): small-business card sales from 2014 through 2017, “dummy” employer ID numbers on business card accounts, and wire products sold with incorrect tax claims from 2018 through 2021. The money went to the government; the announcements describe no customer claims process.
What is the American Express credit-reporting lawsuit in the news?
Pohl v. American Express National Bank, in federal court in California, is one person's Fair Credit Reporting Act suit over settled accounts that were still reported as charged off. It is not a class action and nobody can join it. We explain the case and the dispute process it relies on in our report on the Amex credit-reporting lawsuit.
I got a letter saying my Amex card data was exposed. Is there a settlement?
A breach notice is not a lawsuit. American Express has filed many breach notices with the California Attorney General over the years; the most recent one listed was reported April 23, 2025, for a breach dated February 19, 2025. The legal note in Amex's July 2026 quarterly report lists no data-breach case. Check your statements and ask Amex for a new card through the number on the back of yours.
Is there an Amex class action for cardholders or employees right now?
Among the cases Amex describes in its July 24, 2026 quarterly report, none is a class action by Amex cardholders. Rivetti, a proposed class action filed May 15, 2026 in the Southern District of New York, concerns the American Express Retirement Savings Plan — its fund choices and an investment manager with business ties to Amex — so it matters to plan participants, not cardholders. There is no settlement and nothing to sign up for. For cases that do have claim forms, see open class action settlements.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.