Holian Settlement Update: The Administrator Now Says Claim Review Is “Substantially Completed” and Payments From the $5.5 Million Chemtool Fire Fund Will Begin “Soon” — Its First Word on the Official Site, Still With No Date

The home page of holiansettlement.com now opens with this notice, quoted in full: “Thank you for your patience. Analytics Consulting LLC is working with Counsel to prepare the distribution of settlement funds. The timing of distribution requires the review and verification of thousands of claims submissions as well as supporting documentation. The good news is that we have now substantially completed our review and verification processes and expect to begin distribution soon. Updates will be posted to the settlement website as soon as they are available, and class members do not need to take any action in the meantime.”

The notice itself carries no date. The page’s metadata shows it was last modified on October 7, 2026. When we read the site on October 2, 2026, it listed only the 2025 deadlines and the final approval hearing. As of October 8, 2026 this is the first time the administrator has said anything on the official site about when payments will go out.

Here is what the notice does not say. It gives no payment date, no payment amount and no number of approved claims, and it does not say whether payments will go out all at once or in batches. “Soon” is the administrator’s word, and earlier estimates have slipped. Still, the notice says claim review is substantially done, which is the step the earlier estimates were waiting on. That makes it the most concrete sign yet that money is close.

Until this week, every payment estimate came by email or from the call center, and the public heard about each one through the Rockton-Roscoe News:

• November 7, 2025, an administrator email to the paper: “We have over 5,000 claims to process and review. It should be much faster than for Grasley v Chemtool, as we have more information. Distribution of settlement payments is anticipated in the first quarter of 2026.”
• April 9, 2026: the paper reported that a call center representative told a resident “the timeline for payment has officially been extended to the second quarter of 2026,” a statement it said had not been confirmed by the attorneys or the administrator.
• October 2, 2026: the paper reported that class members in South Beloit who called the call center were told payment could come in the fall, meaning the fourth quarter. It asked Analytics Consulting for comment on September 25, 2026 and had none by publication.
• October 7, 2026 (page metadata): the official site says review is “substantially completed” and distribution is expected “soon.”

The latest notice matches the fourth-quarter estimate from the call center, but it is the first one published by the administrator itself. The settlement agreement sets deadlines for claim processing but none for the final steps, which are resolving disputed claims, calculating each share and sending the money. That is why no court order fixes a payment date.

The class covers Illinois citizens who, on June 14, 2021, owned or rented property within three miles of the Chemtool plant at 1165 Prairie Hill Road in Rockton. You are in line for a payment if you filed a Holian claim by October 13, 2025, or if your claim in the earlier Chemtool settlement was approved. The site says those claims are “automatically” treated as Holian claims.

How much. The fund is $5,500,000. Class counsel capped its fee request at 35% of the fund. The Rockton-Roscoe News put fees and expenses at about $1.95 million and the amount left for claimants at “a figure just north of $3.5 million,” with an estimated average payment of about $500. For comparison, Chemtool payments averaged more than $10,000. Under the settlement agreement, the money is split in half:

• Property damage (50%): owners only, one payment per property, pro rata by the property’s assessed value as set by the Winnebago County Supervisor of Assessments.
• Evacuation and loss of use (50%): owners and tenants, paid by shares. Households within 1 mile get 2 shares and those more than 1 and up to 3 miles away get 1 share, plus 0.2 share for each additional person living in the home on June 14, 2021. Non-residential owners get 2 shares within 1 mile and 1 share beyond.

This means an owner close to the plant with a high assessed value and a large household will get far more than a tenant at the edge of the zone. Nobody can quote your amount until the administrator runs the final numbers.

How it arrives. The agreement offers Venmo, Zelle, PayPal or a paper check. Paper claim forms are paid by check, and anyone who did not choose a method gets a check by First Class Mail to the address on file, updated through the National Change of Address database. Checks are void if not cashed within 180 days of issue. If an electronic payment fails, the administrator is to try to contact you within 30 days.

The administrator says class members “do not need to take any action.” The claim deadline was October 13, 2025, and the exclusion and objection deadlines were September 11, 2025. If you missed them, you cannot file now.

One thing is worth doing: if you moved, changed phone numbers or closed the Venmo, Zelle or PayPal account you gave on your claim, contact the administrator before payments go out. The official contacts are Holian Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 2009, Chanhassen, MN 55317-2009; toll-free 866-654-3125; email HolianSettlement@noticeadministrator.com. When a check arrives, deposit it promptly. The 180-day clock starts on the issue date printed on the check, not the day it reaches you.

Electronic payments are part of this settlement, so a Venmo, Zelle or PayPal deposit labeled with the settlement can be real. A message asking you to pay something can’t. Nothing in the notice or the agreement asks class members to pay a fee, give a bank password or file a new form to get their money. If a text, call or email asks for any of these, treat it as suspect.

Check updates on holiansettlement.com, type the address in yourself, and look for email from the noticeadministrator.com address listed above. If in doubt, call 866-654-3125 instead of any number in the message. The administrator says updates will be posted to the settlement website first, so if the site does not mention a payment event, be careful with any message that does.

The fire started on June 14, 2021 at the grease plant Chemtool, a Lubrizol subsidiary, ran in Rockton. Residents were urged to evacuate for days. The class settled with Chemtool for $94.5 million, approved about a year before the Holian deal. Holian, a contractor working at the plant, added $5.5 million, paid by its insurer, Nautilus Insurance Company, which brings the total recovery to $100 million, according to class counsel Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Holian denies the allegations. None of the settlement money goes back to Holian or its insurer.

Judge Stephen E. Balogh of the 17th Judicial Circuit approved the Holian settlement on October 23, 2025. According to the Rockton-Roscoe News, he set December 29, 2025 as the deadline for the attorneys’ next status report. Co-lead class counsel are Miner, Barnhill & Galland, DiCello Levitt and Foote, Mielke, Chaves & O’Neil. For the earlier timeline, see our October 2 report on the payment date. We will update this coverage when the administrator posts a payment date or payments go out.