Three Claim Deadlines in Three Weeks for the MDI and TDI Price-Fixing Settlements — Wanhua October 13, Dow and Huntsman October 19, BASF and Covestro November 2 — and Only Businesses That Bought the Chemicals Directly Can Claim

As of October 11, 2026, the diisocyanates antitrust settlement is not a consumer payout. Every class definition Judge Hardy has approved reads the same way: “All persons and entities in the United States, its territories, and/or the District of Columbia who purchased or received directly (including through controlled subsidiaries, agents, affiliates and/or joint ventures) the Products” from the current or former defendants. “Products” means “any and all kinds of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (“MDI”) and toluene diisocyanate (“TDI”), no matter the trade name.” The named plaintiffs show who that is in practice: Utah Foam Products, Rhino Linings Corporation, Tri-Iso Tryline LLC and American Polymers Corporation — foam makers, coating companies and chemical distributors. Governments, the defendants and the alleged co-conspirators are excluded. If you bought a couch, a spray-foam job or a car seat, you are not in this class, and the settlement filings we reviewed on the docket are all brought by the direct-purchaser plaintiffs.

The sellers covered are BASF Corporation and BASF SE, Covestro LLC and Covestro AG, The Dow Chemical Company, Huntsman Corporation and Huntsman International LLC, Wanhua Chemical (America) and Wanhua Chemical Group, Mitsui Chemicals and Mitsui Chemicals America, and MCNS (Mitsui Chemicals & SKC Polyurethanes) — and their subsidiaries, affiliates and successors. The class period starts January 1, 2016 and runs to the date each agreement was signed: May 8, 2026 for Covestro and July 29, 2026 for Dow and Huntsman.

Each settlement has its own deadline: October 13, 2026 (Wanhua), October 19, 2026 (Dow and Huntsman), November 2, 2026 (BASF and Covestro). The first two match the court’s formula — claims must be received “within 70 days from the date of entry of this Order”, and 70 days after August 4 and August 10 is October 13 and October 19 by our count. The November 2 date comes from the settlement website; the July 23 orders for BASF and Covestro are not on the public docket mirror we use, so we could not check it against the order itself.

Each settlement is a separate fund. The Covestro notice filed with the court is the only one we could read in full: “Covestro has agreed to pay $7,000,000 into a Fund for payments to Covestro Settlement Class Members, Court-approved attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses, service awards, and notice and administration costs.” MLex reported on July 23, 2026 that “BASF’s $3 million settlement has been granted preliminary approval”; ECHEMI reported that court documents disclosed on July 31, 2026 showed a Wanhua settlement “of $7.75 million.” Those three add up to $17.75 million by our arithmetic. The Dow and Huntsman amount is in their settlement brief, which is not on the public docket mirror; figures circulating on claim-listing sites are not confirmed by any court document we read, so we leave them out.

There is no fixed payment per company. The court approved a plan under which “funds will be allocated on a pro rata basis, taking into account the amount of class products purchased by a Class Member, and the number of claims submitted.” Before anything is shared out, class counsel will ask for attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses “of up to one-third of the Fund” and $15,000 service awards for each named plaintiff (that is the Covestro notice; the fee motion is due at least 30 days before the December 7 hearing). Payment will come “by secure electronic bank wire transfer or hard copy check,” sent directly to class members.

When: not before the court finally approves the deals. The notice says payments will be distributed “as soon as possible, if and when the Court grants final approval of the Settlement and after any appeals are resolved.” The final approval hearing for all five is December 7, 2026 at 1:00 PM, Courtroom 3B, 3rd Floor, Joseph F. Weis Jr. Courthouse, 700 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. No payment date has been announced, and the litigation against any non-settling parties is not over.

Kroll, the court-appointed administrator, mails and emails notice to the purchasers it can identify from the defendants’ sales records. Per the Covestro notice, each class member is sent “a Claim Form that included the amount(s) of the Products they purchased, if known, from the Defendants during the Class Period based on the Defendants’ records. If you agree with the amount(s), no additional documentation is required.” If the figure is wrong or missing, you file a Purchase Audit Request Form with “supporting documentation (e.g., purchase orders, sales receipts, etc.)” — otherwise you are paid on the defendants’ numbers. Claims go in online on the settlement website with the Class ID from your notice, or by mail to Kroll. The court’s schedule says claims and objections must be received by the deadline.

To opt out and keep the right to sue a settling company yourself, you mail a written request — postmarked by that settlement’s deadline — with “(a) name; (b) name of the business which purchased MDI or TDI; (c) address; (d) a statement that the member wishes to be excluded from the Settlement Class; and (e) the Class Member’s signature.” If you do nothing, you stay in the class, give up claims against the settling defendant, and get no money unless you file a claim. A business that bought from several defendants should look at each deadline separately: the earliest one, for Wanhua, is October 13, 2026.

The court ordered “individual notice via mail and email to all members who can be identified through reasonable effort”, so a letter or email about this case is expected for companies that bought directly from the defendants. The genuine notice says: “A federal Court authorized this Notice. It is not a solicitation from a lawyer. You are not being sued.” It names Kroll Settlement Administration LLC as administrator, with a P.O. box in New York, and points to DiisocyanatesAntitrustLitigation.com. There is no fee to file; class counsel (Hausfeld LLP and Hartley LLP) are paid only from the fund, if the court approves.

Two cautions. First, the official website blocked our automated request, so we could not quote its contact page; type the address yourself rather than following a link in an unexpected email. Second, if a third party offers to file for you in exchange for a share of the payment, you do not need one: the court-approved process lets a class member file directly on the settlement website or by mail to Kroll.

What does antitrust litigation mean? In this case it means a lawsuit claiming that competitors broke federal competition law. The plaintiffs allege that “Defendants…agreed, combined, and conspired with each other to fix, raise, maintain and/or stabilize prices and to limit supply for MDI and TDI products sold in the United States” in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act — according to the notice, “through agreements to limit supply of MDI and TDI by planned manufacturing shutdowns at plants worldwide and implementing coordinated pricing increases.” These are allegations. Covestro “has denied any liability and any wrongdoing,” and the court’s order says it is not “an admission or evidence of a violation of any statute” by Dow or Huntsman.

What is an antitrust settlement? It is a deal in which a company accused of an antitrust violation pays into a fund to end the claims against it, without admitting fault. Because this is a class action — “one or more individuals sue on behalf of other people or entities with similar claims” and “one court resolves the lawsuit for all Class Members, except for those who exclude themselves” — one approved settlement binds every direct purchaser who does not opt out.

The case has been running since 2018: the court appointed Hausfeld and Hartley as interim co-lead counsel on November 28, 2018, and the second amended complaint was filed on September 10, 2020. A mediation on June 24, 2026 was reported to the court as resolved. As of October 11, 2026, the last public docket entry we found was a transcript notice of August 13, 2026.