Star Casualty Total Loss Settlement: Up to $79.85 in Unpaid Title and Tag Fees Plus Up to $200 in Storage Refunds — Hearing October 12, Claim Deadline October 26, 2026, and Unclaimed Money Goes Back to the Insurer

As of October 11, 2026, the star casualty total loss settlement is one step from final approval. The official site, StarCasualtyTotalLossSettlement.com, lists the Final Fairness Hearing for October 12, 2026 and the claim deadline for October 26, 2026. Under the preliminary approval order Judge Javier A. Enriquez signed on June 26, 2026, the claim window closes fourteen days after the hearing, which is why the two dates sit so close together.

The case is about two line items on a total-loss check. The plaintiff alleges that Star Casualty “breached its auto insurance policies by failing to pay Title Transfer Fees and Tag Transfer Fees totaling $79.85 on total loss claims and by improperly deducting Excess Storage and Towing charges from Actual Cash Value (‘ACV’) payments.” Star Casualty denies the allegations, and the court has not decided who is right.

The settlement pays back exactly those two items. The first is up to $79.85 in fees: $75.25 for the title transfer and $4.60 for the tag transfer. The second is a refund of storage or towing deductions, capped at $25 a day for up to 8 days, so $200 at most. Both come with prejudgment interest “at the statutory rate.” By our arithmetic, someone who lost both items in full could get $279.85 before interest. Anything Star Casualty already paid toward the same fees or storage is subtracted. The settlement site gives its own example: a payout that left out both fees and took off five days of storage at $25 a day would bring “$79.85 + $125.00 = $204.85 plus interest, less any amount already paid.”

You are a class member if, between March 22, 2018 and June 26, 2026, you “(i) were insured under a Florida automobile insurance policy issued by Star Casualty, (ii) submitted a first-party claim that was adjusted as a total loss and settled by Star Casualty on an ACV basis,” and either did not get the full title and tag fees or had storage or towing taken out of your payment. People who were paid both fees in full and had no storage deduction are excluded. So is anyone whose own appraisal, arbitration or lawsuit over the loss had already been started or finished by the time the agreement was filed. The final approval motion estimates 2,701 members in the fee class (in another place it says “more than 2,000”) and about $260,000 in storage-deduction damages. It puts the fee class’s total at $165,369.00, which is 2,701 × $79.85 as written in the motion. That multiplication actually comes to $215,674.85 by our arithmetic, so either the head count or the dollar total in the filing is off.

Who gets the insurance check when a car is totaled? In this settlement, the money goes to the class member who files the claim: the person who made the insurance claim, or that person’s legal representative, who signs the claim form under penalty of perjury. If the class member has died, the administrator asks for a copy of the death certificate and papers showing who the legal beneficiary is. The original total-loss payment works differently. Florida’s Department of Financial Services says a car is declared a total loss when the repair estimate “meets or exceeds 80% of its value.” When the vehicle has a loan, section 627.743 of the Florida Statutes requires that payment on a third-party total-loss claim “be made jointly to the owner of the damaged vehicle and the first lienholder of record.” This settlement does not change who received that original check. It only pays back the fees and deductions.

When: nothing is paid before final approval. The FAQ says payments “will be distributed within 90 days of the Effective Date,” which comes after approval and any appeals. The site does not say whether payment will be by check or electronically.

File by October 26, 2026. Mailed claim forms must be postmarked by that date. Online claims must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on October 26, 2026. Do one or the other, not both. If you got the notice by mail, it came with a pre-filled claim form that has postage prepaid: check the details, sign it, tear it off at the perforation and mail it. To file online, you need the Claim ID and PIN printed on your mailed or emailed notice. If you lost them, email the administrator with your last name and address. The court’s order requires each claim form to show your full name, your current address, your Star Casualty policy or claim number (or the make and model of the totaled vehicle), and your signature and date under penalty of perjury.

Deadlines that have passed: requests to opt out, objections and notices of intent to appear were all due by September 14, 2026, twenty-eight days before the hearing. If you did not opt out, you are in the class whether or not you file a claim. The FAQ is direct about the cost of doing nothing: “You will not receive payment unless you timely submit a valid Claim Form,” and you still give up the claims released by the settlement.

The hearing: the June 26 order set the hearing at the Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center in Miami. The settlement website, which takes priority here, now says it will be held “in a Virtual Courtroom,” and the documents page posts a “ZOOM/Virtual Notice of Special Set Hearing.” The site warns that the hearing “may be postponed to a different date or time without notice”, so check the Key Dates page. A new hearing date would also move the claim deadline under the court’s fourteen-day rule, but only the official site can confirm a new date.

The notice is real. It is court-authorized and, in the site’s words, “not a solicitation from a lawyer. You are not being sued.” The court appointed American Legal Claim Services, LLC as administrator, and Star Casualty pays the administrator’s costs. The genuine contact points are:

• Website: StarCasualtyTotalLossSettlement.com
• Phone: 1-800-290-2388
• Email: info@StarCasualtyTotalLossSettlement.com
• Mail: Kharevich v Star Casualty, c/o Settlement Administrator, PO Box 23489, Jacksonville, FL 32241

The court-approved email notice comes from donotreply@StarCasualtyTotalLossSettlement.com. The mailed postcard tells recipients that “Star Casualty’s records indicate you may be entitled to a payment.” The claim form items listed in the court’s order do not include a Social Security number, a bank account or a fee. If a message asks for any of those, go to the official site yourself to check it instead of using a link in the message. The FAQ also says not to call the court: “PLEASE DO NOT TELEPHONE OR CONTACT THE COURT OR THE CLERK OF THE COURT REGARDING THE NOTICE.”

What number is 1-800-468-3466? We could not match it to this case. It does not appear on the settlement website or in any of the court filings we read, and a web search did not show who owns it. The only phone number the administrator publishes is 1-800-290-2388.

Not the same company: “Star Health Insurance” and its claim settlement ratio have nothing to do with this case. The only defendant here is Star Casualty Insurance Company, and the only policies covered are Florida auto policies. Questions about a health insurer’s claim record belong with that insurer or its regulator, and this page does not answer them.

This is one of a long line of Florida total-loss fee cases. The firm representing the class, Normand, Judkins & Couch PLLC, together with Irvin & Irvin, PLLC, has brought similar title-fee cases against other auto insurers. For the people who file, the deal pays the full amount: the June 26 order says it “provides 100% of compensatory damages to Settlement Class Members who submit timely, valid claims.” Fees are separate. Star Casualty agreed to pay class counsel up to $185,000 in fees and costs and to pay a $5,000 service award to the named plaintiff, all outside the class payments. Counsel report a lodestar of $185,697.50 and about $10,408.75 in costs. The deal came out of a mediation on February 20, 2025.

The catch is the structure. There is no fixed fund that gets divided among everyone. Star Casualty pays each valid claim, and the motion says “Any unclaimed Settlement Funds shall revert to Defendant.” Every eligible driver who does not file is money Star Casualty keeps. The release also covers more than the payment does. Class members give up claims about “unpaid sales tax, title transfer fees, tag transfer fees, and/or Excess Storage or Towing deductions,” even though the settlement pays no sales tax. Claims that Star Casualty undervalued the car itself are not released.

The final approval motion was filed on August 28, 2026 and reports that “no Class Member has objected to nor requested exclusion.” The administrator’s declaration attached to it is only a placeholder page in the posted copy, so as of October 11, 2026 there is no public count of notices mailed or claims filed. We will update this article when the court rules on final approval.