The claim form for the California v. Vitol settlement is no longer available. The filing deadline was January 8, 2025, the portal at calgaslitigation.com is closed, and the settlement administrator has already begun paying $21.65 to each of the more than one million people who submitted valid claims.1State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Drivers, Claim Your Money: Attorney General Bonta Reminds Californians of Gas Antitrust Settlement Deadline If you filed in time, your payment is on its way through the delivery method you chose. If you didn’t, there is no late-filing process.
What the Form Asked For
The claim itself was short. You entered your full legal name, mailing address, and email address, then confirmed that you bought gasoline in one of the eligible Southern California counties during the class period. No receipts were required for a standard claim. Instead, you signed an attestation under penalty of perjury that your information was true. Knowingly providing false information on a sworn declaration is a crime under California law.2California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 118 – Perjury and Subornation of Perjury
The form could be submitted through the online portal or printed and mailed to the settlement administrator. Either way, it had to be submitted or postmarked by January 8, 2025.1State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Drivers, Claim Your Money: Attorney General Bonta Reminds Californians of Gas Antitrust Settlement Deadline
Who Could File
Eligibility was limited. To qualify, you had to have purchased gasoline between February 20, 2015, and November 10, 2015, in one of these ten Southern California counties: Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, or Imperial.3State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Bonta to California Drivers: You May Be Eligible for a Gas Settlement Payment Purchases outside those counties or outside that date range did not qualify, and the settlement was not statewide. Proof of residency wasn’t needed; anyone who bought gas in a qualifying county during the window could file.
If You Already Filed: Your Payment
Each valid claim pays $21.65. The figure comes from dividing the $37.5 million consumer restitution pool, which is what remained of the $50 million settlement after attorney fees, administrative costs, and other expenses, evenly across the more than one million qualifying claims.
Payments go out through the delivery method you selected on the form: paper check, direct deposit, Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal. If nothing has arrived, check the email address you listed. Some electronic payments arrive as a notification from the settlement administrator or from Bank of America prompting you to accept the transfer. A notification is legitimate if it references the California Gasoline Spot Market Antitrust Settlement and matches the administrator’s contact information posted at calgaslitigation.com. Be cautious of any message asking for fees, passwords, or Social Security numbers. The real administrator doesn’t need that information to send your $21.65.
Taxes on the Payment
A settlement that reimburses consumers for prices they were overcharged generally represents a return of money already spent rather than new income. The IRS treats the taxability of settlement payments based on what the payment is meant to replace, and this one compensated drivers for artificially inflated gas prices. For most recipients, $21.65 is unlikely to trigger any reporting requirement or meaningful tax consequence. If your situation is unusual, ask a tax professional.
If You Missed the Deadline
The January 8, 2025, deadline was firm. The administrator is not accepting new claims, and there is no late-filing process or appeal for people who did not submit in time.1State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Drivers, Claim Your Money: Attorney General Bonta Reminds Californians of Gas Antitrust Settlement Deadline The settlement website at calgaslitigation.com remains available for reference, but the claim portal is closed.
The Attorney General’s office has described this case as part of a broader enforcement effort against gasoline price manipulation in California. Future actions related to gas pricing could create new claim opportunities, but any such case would be separate, with its own eligibility rules and its own deadline.