Telmate, the company that provides phone and messaging services to people in jail and prison, has agreed to put $4.225 million into a fund for people whose personal information was exposed in a data breach in August 2020. Claims close December 21, 2026, and a federal court in Virginia will hold its final approval hearing on February 12, 2027. The settlement pays in two ways: a pro rata cash share for people who file, and reimbursement of up to $5,000 per person for documented losses tied to the breach. Both come out of the same fund, which also has to cover lawyers, administration and a service award.
Who counts as a class member
The class is defined as all individuals within the United States whose personal information was impacted during the security incident Telmate experienced on or about August 13, 2020. The case is Cooper v. Telmate, No. 1:24-cv-01622, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Telmate, LLC is the defendant under its other name, Viapath Technologies. Kroll Settlement Administration is the company running the claims process, and its phone line for the case is 833-453-3721.
The class definition turns on whether personal information was impacted in the incident, so anyone who used Telmate’s services around then and is unsure about their status can ask Kroll directly. The claim form can be filed online or mailed on paper, and the December 21, 2026 claim deadline applies to both, with paper forms needing a postmark by that day. Opt-out and objection requests are due the same day.
For anyone trying to work out whether the Telmate notice applies to them and how to file, The Settlement & Refund Recovery System is a paid guide that includes a step-by-step filing walkthrough and the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice. It sits next to the free claim site, not in place of it.
Get the filing walkthrough for the Telmate claim form →
What the $4.225 million pays
Settlement Insight, a site that tracks class actions, estimates the roughly 431,031-person class would each receive about $9.80 before deductions and about $5.30 after the maximum requested deductions, if every class member filed a claim. That is the outlet’s own arithmetic and not an official figure. The actual pro rata payment depends on how many people file and how much is paid out for documented losses, and it requires no paperwork beyond the claim form.
The second benefit reimburses documented out-of-pocket losses of up to $5,000 per person. Settlement Insight reports that the losses must be costs more likely than not caused by the breach, backed by documents created by a third party, such as telephone records, correspondence and receipts. Money paid on those loss claims leaves the same $4.225 million fund, so heavy loss claims reduce what is left for the pro rata shares.
The requested deductions are large. Class lawyers can ask for up to one-third of the fund, or $1,408,333.33, plus up to $35,000 in litigation costs, and the named plaintiff, Amber Cooper, can receive a $5,000 service award. Administration costs are capped at $493,077. At those maximums, the four items total about $1.94 million, close to 46% of the fund, before any class member is paid, and the court still has to approve each request.
From the 2020 breach to a 2027 hearing
The breach dates to August 2020, when an unauthorized third party got into files on Telmate’s network. The settlement notice lists names, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, usernames paired with passwords, home addresses, driver’s license and passport numbers, Social Security numbers, payment card numbers and financial account information. Settlement Insight reports that Telmate told 44,360 people in 2020 that their information had been compromised and told others only after a Federal Trade Commission investigation in 2024.
The same trade name has drawn federal attention. In November 2023 the FTC announced action against Global Tel*Link Corp., which operates as ViaPath Technologies, over personal data stored unencrypted in a cloud environment for about 650,000 users and a notification that reached only 45,000. Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the agency “is committed to protecting the rights to privacy and security of personal information for all consumers, including incarcerated consumers and their loved ones.” The FTC announcement does not mention Telmate, so the Virginia settlement stands as its own case.
After the deadline, the court holds the final approval hearing on Friday, February 12, 2027, at 10:00 a.m. ET. Settlement Insight reports that payments are expected within 120 days of a final approval order, which would put them around mid-June 2027 if nobody appeals. An appeal or a change to the fee requests could push that date later, and the court, not the administrator, decides whether the settlement is approved as written.
Filing the Telmate claim before December 21
The free route is the official settlement website, where the claim form is submitted online, or a paper form mailed with a postmark no later than December 21, 2026. The site describes itself as the only authorized website for the case, and Kroll answers questions at 833-453-3721. A claim for the pro rata cash alone needs no receipts, so anyone in the class who has no out-of-pocket costs still has a route to a payment.
Anyone claiming documented losses needs paperwork made by someone other than the claimant, such as telephone records, correspondence and receipts, that ties each cost to the breach rather than to some other incident. Those papers are worth pulling together before the form is opened, since the claim is for up to $5,000 per person. Anyone who objects to the deal or opts out must act by the same December 21 date, and opting out means not taking part in the settlement.
Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and payment card numbers were among the items listed as exposed, and a claim does not undo that. People in the class who find misuse of those numbers can report it and get a recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov, the FTC’s reporting site, whether or not a settlement claim is ever filed.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System is a paid companion to the free claim site, built for keeping a filing straight. It brings a claim log and payment tracker for following the Telmate claim through the February 2027 hearing, and the scam-proof rules for checking any message that claims to be about a settlement.
Click here to get The Settlement & Refund Recovery System →
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Money Overview’s editorial team.
