The paper cheque, once the mainstay of receiving settlement funds in class actions and mass torts, is giving way to digital payments. A majority of class members now express a preference for their settlement payments to be directly deposited into their digital wallets such as PayPal, according to the recent findings.
In the inaugural “Digital Payments in Class Actions and Mass Torts” report, it was revealed that the prevalence of digital payments in such settlements has seen a dramatic increase over the past few years. The report analyzed 267 class action and mass tort settlements from 2019 to 2022, and discovered that up to 170 settlements employed digital payments in 2022, a striking contrast to just two in 2019.
Digital Disbursements, a subsidiary of the Western Alliance Bank and the company behind the report, distributed these settlements through 22 different administrators.
This development could suggest a significant shift in the landscape of payments in class action and mass tort settlements. As the convenience and efficiency of digital payments continue to impress members, it’s predictable that this trend will only accelerate in the coming years.