Bestway Pool Settlement Lawyers Ask for $4.87 Million of the $15 Million Fund — About $9.7 Million Would Be Left for Pool Owners, and the $40 Payment Can Shrink. Claims Are Due October 30, 2026.

The news in the Bestway above-ground pool safety settlement is a court filing, not a payment. On September 25, 2026, class counsel asked Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins for $4,867,326.33 in attorneys’ fees, $41,864.18 in litigation expenses and a $2,500 service award for each of the seven class representatives (Dkt. 65). All of it comes out of the same $15,000,000 fund that pays pool owners. The settlement website says so in plain terms: “the Settlement Administrator will pay attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses, and service awards out of the Settlement Fund.”

Add the administrator’s estimated notice and administration bill of $380,521.00 and the service awards of $17,500.00, and by our arithmetic about $9.7 million ($9,692,788.49) would be left for claims if the court grants every dollar requested. The court may award less. The claim deadline is October 30, 2026, and the fairness hearing where the judge rules on the settlement and the fees is November 20, 2026.

The other fact worth knowing before you file: the $40 flat payment is not a fixed promise. Judge Jenkins’s preliminary approval order of May 4, 2026 says “All payments are subject to pro rata adjustment,” and the fee memorandum itself describes the no-receipt option as “a Cash Payment of $40.00, subject to pro rata adjustment.”

You are in the class if you are in the United States, its territories or the District of Columbia and bought, “for personal use and not for resale, a Bestway-branded pool 48 inches in height or taller (including Power Steel, Steel Pro and Coleman Power Steel models) with compression straps located outside of the support poles, sold from 2008 through 2024.” Second-hand buyers are excluded, as are wholesalers, distributors and retailers. Intex and Polygroup pools from the same government recall are not part of this case.

The payment has two tracks. With a valid proof of purchase you get 10% of the price on the receipt, or of the pool’s Average Retail Price if the proof shows no price. Without proof you get $40.00. Our September 5 report explains why the receipt only pays more on pools bought above $400.

How far the fund stretches depends on how many people file. The fee motion says Bestway’s sales data confirmed “approximately 2.5 million” class pools sold. If every claim were a $40 claim, $9.7 million would cover about 242,000 of them in full — roughly one claim for every ten pools sold, by our arithmetic. Receipt claims on pricier pools use up the money faster. As of October 15, 2026, neither the settlement website nor the fee motion reports how many claims have been filed, so nobody outside the administrator can yet say whether a pro rata cut will happen. The fee motion calls the fund “non-reversionary”, meaning none of it goes back to Bestway.

Timing: nothing is paid before final approval. The FAQ states: “Settlement payments cannot be distributed until the Court grants Final Approval of the Settlement and after any appeals are resolved.” You can choose among “several electronic payment options” or a paper check on the claim form.

File a claim. Claims are submitted on PoolSettlementBW.com or by mailing the paper form, which must be postmarked by October 30, 2026. Paper forms are also available by calling 1-855-789-5948 or writing to Bestway Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 1869, Baton Rouge, LA 70821. The model name and number are printed on the outside of the pool liner, according to the CPSC.

Opt out only if you want to keep your own right to sue over the claims this settlement releases. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. CT on October 30, 2026 online, or a postmark of October 30, 2026 by mail; you cannot opt out by phone. If you opt out, you get no payment. The release does not cover personal injury, wrongful death or rights under the recall.

Object if you think the fee is too high or the settlement is unfair. The fee motion has been posted on the settlement website’s Court Documents page since late September, before the objection deadline as the notice promised. Objections must be filed through the court’s ECF system or delivered to the Clerk’s Office, Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, ATTN: Bestway Settlement Objections, 219 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604, postmarked or filed by October 30, 2026. Class counsel’s motion for final approval is due November 13, 2026; the hearing is set for November 20, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 2119, and the court may move it or hold it remotely. Any extension of the deadlines has to be posted on the settlement website.

The settlement is real. It is In re Bestway Above-Ground Pools Litigation, No. 1:25-cv-09570, in the Northern District of Illinois, administered by Eisner Advisory Group LLC. The court-approved notice lists one website (PoolSettlementBW.com), one toll-free number (1-855-789-5948) and one mailing address (P.O. Box 1869, Baton Rouge, LA 70821). A message pointing you anywhere else for the cash payment deserves suspicion.

Don’t be thrown by a second, different Bestway number. Is Bestway pools being recalled? Yes. On July 21, 2025, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of about 5 million above-ground pools 48 inches and taller from Bestway, Intex and Polygroup, because the outside compression strap “may create a foothold, allowing a child access to the pool, posing a drowning risk.” The CPSC says nine children between 22 months and 3 years old drowned after using the footholds, between 2007 and 2022. The remedy is a free repair kit: a rope fixed to each support pole at ground level, after which the strap is cut away. Until it is installed, the CPSC says to keep children from reaching the pool unattended or to drain it. Bestway’s recall line is (888) 875-5620, with online requests at bestwayusa.com/product-safety-and-recall. That is the recall, not the settlement. The settlement says the recall “remains in effect independent of this Settlement,” and you do not need to take part in the recall to claim the cash.

Who manufactures Bestway pools? The CPSC names Bestway (Hong Kong) International Ltd. of China and Bestway (USA) Inc. of Chandler, Arizona, and says the recalled pools were manufactured in China. The settlement’s defendants are Bestway (USA) Inc., Bestway Inflatables & Material Corp. and Bestway (Hong Kong) International Ltd. They deny the pools are defective and deny wrongdoing.

The fee motion asks for one-third of a “net Settlement Fund” of $14,601,979.00, which is the $15 million less administration costs and service awards. Measured against the full $15 million, that is about 32.4%, by our arithmetic. Counsel report 1,523 hours of work and a lodestar of $1,463,369.50, so the request equals what the motion calls “a multiplier of only 3.3.” Counsel argue that one-third is typical in the Seventh Circuit and point to unbilled work still ahead: final approval, any objections and appeals, and supervising payments.

The case moved fast. The first complaint was filed on August 12, 2025, about three weeks after the recall. The suits were consolidated on November 6, 2025, and the deal came out of two mediations, on January 16 and February 13, 2026, before retired Judge Diane Welsh of JAMS. Plaintiffs allege that the recall was “delayed, deficient, and inadequate, including that it failed to offer consumers any monetary relief.” The court has not decided who is right.

One question shows up next to this settlement in search results: What are the legal liabilities of owning a swimming pool? This case does not answer it. The settlement covers only the economic claims of buyers, and it expressly does not release claims for personal injury or wrongful death. For owner liability, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. For barriers, covers and alarms, the CPSC points owners to free material at PoolSafely.gov.