Labcorp’s Web-Tracking Settlement Pays Class Members $0 — There Is No Claim Form and No Way to Opt Out, While the Class Lawyers May Ask Labcorp for Up to $4.875 Million

The settlement website, LaboratoryCorporationWebsiteSettlement.com, is run by the administrator Epiq and says it plainly: “The settlement does not provide monetary compensation to Settlement Class Members, and Settlement Class Members do not release any claims for damages or other monetary relief.” Question 6 of the official notice asks “Will I get money if the settlement is approved?” and answers: “No. The settlement provides only injunctive relief.”

There is therefore nothing to file. Under “Do Nothing,” the website says: “You do not need to do anything to receive injunctive relief. If the Settlement is approved, you will be bound by it.” Any page that offers you a claim form for this case is not describing anything the official notice provides for.

Do not confuse it with Labcorp’s other settlement. The $35 million class settlement over the AMCA debt-collector data breach did pay cash, but its claim deadline passed on September 3, 2026 — we covered its final approval and the separate $2.3 million deal with 44 attorneys general. The web-tracking case is a different lawsuit, about searches on labcorp.com.

The notice defines two classes: “All persons in California who conducted Search Queries on Labcorp’s website from May 1, 2021 to April 1, 2026,” and the same for Pennsylvania. A “Search Query” is not only typing into the search bar — it includes “making any selection(s) from any drop-down menu on the website.” You do not have to be a Labcorp patient; Labcorp had in fact argued during the case that the named plaintiffs lacked standing because they were not patients and had not received services from Labcorp, according to class counsel’s memorandum supporting approval.

Only California and Pennsylvania are covered because the lawsuit was brought under those two states’ wiretapping laws: the California Invasion of Privacy Act and Pennsylvania’s Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act. People in other states are not in the class and are not bound by it. The notice gives the end of the class period as April 1, 2026; the settlement agreement itself defines it as running to the date of the agreement, which the court’s order gives as April 2, 2026.

Section 4 of the settlement agreement lists the business-practice terms, each running for at least two years after the settlement becomes final:

• No Meta Pixel, Google Analytics, The Trade Desk Universal Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag or Twitter (X) Pixel anywhere on labcorp.com.
• No technology that, to Labcorp’s knowledge, sends the contents of search queries to third parties — except “Exempt Technology” that only supports the site’s operation and is covered by confidentiality terms barring use of search contents for online display advertising.
• An annual review of the website and a compliance report to class counsel.
• A written policy on externally developed tracking technologies.
• A senior employee designated to oversee compliance.

Class counsel argued that this was the best realistic outcome: “because the proposed injunctive relief achieves all the business practice changes Plaintiffs could have obtained, there is little to be gained from further litigation.” On money, the same memorandum conceded that “while CIPA and WESCA provide for statutory damages, such damages would not have been a foregone conclusion here,” and the court, when it denied Labcorp’s motion to dismiss in September 2024, had expressed “substantial concern with Plaintiffs’ class allegations.”

There is no settlement fund. Instead, section 9 of the agreement allows class counsel — Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, Meyer Wilson Werning and Levin Law — to ask the court for attorneys’ fees and expenses “up to an aggregated amount of $4.875 million,” paid by Labcorp within 45 days of final approval. Labcorp keeps the right to contest the request, but neither side will appeal a fee award of $4.875 million or less. The three named plaintiffs may each ask for a service award of up to $2,500. The court can award less than any of these amounts.

The fee motion is due by November 14, 2026, nine days before the objection deadline, so class members can read it before deciding whether to object. Unlike everyone else in the class, the three named plaintiffs release their own claims for money.

You cannot exclude yourself. The notice explains: “Because the plaintiffs are seeking only injunctive relief … Settlement Class Members cannot opt out of the settlement.” If the court approves it, you give up the right to sue Labcorp for injunctive relief over the same conduct — but, per Question 7 of the notice, “You will not release any claims for damages or other monetary relief.” Anyone who wants to pursue money individually keeps that option.

To object or comment, send a letter to the Clerk, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, 324 W. Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27401, postmarked by November 23, 2026. It must include the case name and number (Howard v. Laboratory Corp. of Am., Case No. 1:23-cv-758), your name, mailing address, e-mail address and signature, what you object to and why, and a statement that you ran a search on Labcorp’s website during the class period, with the state you were in. The same date is the deadline for a Notice of Intention to Appear.

The final approval hearing is set for December 14, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in Greensboro, Courtroom 1, before U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. The administrator answers at 1-877-378-7520 or PO Box 6659, Portland, OR 97228-6659.

The amended complaint, filed in September 2023, gave examples. It alleged that a search for “pregnancy” on Labcorp’s homepage, and the copying of a urine pregnancy test’s test number, were disclosed to Google through Google Analytics, and that the search terms “colon cancer” entered on the homepage were transmitted to Meta. Labcorp denies these allegations, and the court has not decided who is right; the settlement only changes what Labcorp may run on its website from here on.

The case began in the Northern District of California on June 5, 2023; after Labcorp challenged personal jurisdiction there, it was transferred to the Middle District of North Carolina. The settlement agreement is dated April 2, 2026 and was preliminarily approved on August 21, 2026.