Costa Del Mar Is Paying $23.9 Million Over Sunglass Repairs Sold on the Box as a “Nominal Fee.” Class Counsel Puts It at About $48 per Repair, Paid Automatically — Unless You Live in Florida, Where a Different Settlement Applies.

The case is built on a sentence printed on packaging. According to the notice, every box of non-prescription, non-promotional Costa sunglasses sold during the class period said that if the glasses were “damaged by accident, normal wear and tear, or misuse,” Costa would “replace scratched lenses, frames, and other parts for a nominal fee.” The plaintiff, Gerald E. Reed IV, says Costa then charged more than a nominal fee, and did not tell customers what the repair would cost at the point of sale, on its website, or by phone before they mailed the glasses in at their own expense. His position is that a nominal fee is at most $11.95 — which is why $11.95 is the threshold for being in the class. Class counsel's fee motion adds the other number that frames the dispute: “the average repair cost was less than $75.”

Costa denies all of it. Its defenses, listed in the notice, are that the box language “was not a promise to repair or a warranty but was marketing language,” that the fees were in fact nominal, that out-of-state buyers should have sued under their own states' laws rather than Florida's, that Reed filed too late, and that people who never read the box cannot have been misled by it. The court certified the class over Costa's opposition but never ruled on any of these — the notice is explicit that “The Court has not made any determination that Costa engaged in any wrongdoing or violated any law.”

How many repairs are we talking about? Two figures appear in the record. The settlement FAQ says “Costa performed approximately 494,000 sunglass repairs during the class period.” The fee motion, citing Costa's own records at docket entry 161, says “there are approximately 365,327 repair transactions within the class period.” The class only counts repairs over $11.95 by non-Florida buyers, which is the likely reason the second number is smaller; the per-repair estimate below is built on it.

Costa is creating a $23,900,000 Qualified Settlement Fund. Class counsel — Holland & Knight — will ask for $5,736,000 in fees and expenses, which the motion notes is 24 percent of the fund, “below the presumptive benchmark of 25 percent” in the Eleventh Circuit. Settlement administration costs also come out of the fund. What is left is split pro rata, one share per eligible repair, and the motion states the expected result plainly: “Class Counsel expects that each Class Member will receive approximately $48 per unique repair claim from the QSF.” Our own check: $23.9 million less $5.736 million is $18.164 million; across 365,327 repairs that is $49.72 before administration costs, so $48 is consistent. If a class member paid for three repairs, that is three shares.

The same motion puts the fund in context. Plaintiff's damages expert, Joseph Galanti, calculated classwide damages, and the fund “represents approximately 80.9% of the total classwide damages without prejudgment interest.” Settlements at that fraction of the claimed loss are rare; it reflects a case that had survived a motion to dismiss, class certification, an interlocutory appeal, summary judgment briefing and Daubert motions and was, in the motion's words, being prepared “for imminent trial.”

Payment is by paper check, Venmo, PayPal or Zelle; paper check is the default if you do nothing and Costa has an address for you, which it should, because it mailed your glasses back. The site's “Submit Payment Selection” page takes the Unique ID and PIN from your notice. If at least $150,000 remains after the first round — uncashed checks, unclaimed electronic transfers — and it is enough to give each earlier recipient at least $1 after costs, there is a second distribution to those who took part in the first one within 120 days. Anything after that goes, subject to court approval, to the American Saltwater Guides Association.

Florida residents are not in this class because they are covered by a separate settlement in a separate case, Haney v. Costa Del Mar, Inc. — that is all the notice says about it, and it is the reason a case brought under a Florida statute pays everyone except Floridians. If you live in Florida and paid for a Costa repair, this settlement is not yours.

There is also an older case some class members will remember, and the notice warns about the confusion: Smith v. Costa Del Mar, Inc., Case No. 3:18-cv-1011, in the same district. That was the Magnuson-Moss warranty version of the dispute, and it produced a proposed settlement valued by its proponents at more than $60 million — in product vouchers, with $8 million in attorneys' fees. The Eleventh Circuit reversed its preliminary approval, holding that plaintiffs who had already paid the repair fees lacked standing to seek injunctive relief, and on June 17, 2025 Judge Timothy Corrigan dismissed the class claim for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, because the Magnuson-Moss Act requires at least 100 named plaintiffs in federal court and the Class Action Fairness Act did not supply an alternative route. That account is from a June 2025 analysis by defense firm Duane Morris, not from the court record we read; the Reed fee motion refers to the same episode more briefly as “the vacatur of a prior settlement by the Eleventh Circuit.”

The difference is the point. The 2018 case would have paid in Costa vouchers; the 2019 case, seven years on, pays cash. Class counsel's motion says the claims had never been challenged on a classwide basis before, and that the individual amounts — under $75 a repair — were too small for anyone to sue alone.

If you are in the class and want the money, the notice's instruction is literally to do nothing: “If you are a Settlement Class Member and you do nothing, you will automatically receive a cash payment.” Two housekeeping steps are still worth doing. Keep your address current with the administrator — Reed v. Costa Del Mar, Inc., Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6790, Portland, OR 97228-6790 — and, if you prefer an electronic payment to a check, make the selection online with the Unique ID and PIN from your notice. If you got a notice in 2025 when the class was certified, this is the second mailing; the site was last updated August 20, 2026.

To keep your right to sue Costa yourself, a signed exclusion letter naming the case must be received — not postmarked — by October 26, 2026 at that Portland address; the notice says exclusions cannot be made by telephone or e-mail and that “mass” opt-outs filed by third parties will not be honored. Objections must be filed with the clerk in Orlando by the same date and mailed to Holland & Knight in Jacksonville and to Costa's counsel at McGuireWoods, and must state whether you intend to appear. You cannot both object and opt out.

The final approval hearing is December 14, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. before Judge Dalton at the George C. Young Federal Annex Courthouse, 401 W. Central Blvd., Orlando. The notice says the date can change without further mailing and the hearing may be held by video or telephone. Payments follow approval and the end of any appeal period — so the first distribution is a 2027 event unless the order goes unchallenged and the administrator moves quickly.