Roughly 2,338 veterans were charged a fee by Just4Veterans in connection with a VA disability claim. The ones who paid can file for money by October 5, 2026. The ones who were billed but never paid get the debt wiped out and have nothing to file. Knowing which group you are in is the whole decision.
Status: Claims open | Claim deadline October 5, 2026 | Opt out or object by September 3, 2026 | Fund: $750,000
The Case
The case began on September 20, 2023, when a veteran filed a proposed class action alleging that Just4Veterans LLC and its principal, Frederick Castanos Justo, charged unlawful fees to veterans in connection with claims for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits. An amended complaint filed May 17, 2024 added a second named plaintiff, and on February 13, 2025 the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland certified a class of veterans charged a fee by J4V in connection with a VA disability claim.
The defendants deny every allegation of wrongdoing, fault, liability and damages, and deny that they violated any law. The court has not decided who is right; the settlement resolves the case without any admission of liability.
The parties signed the Class Action Settlement Agreement in May 2026, and the court has since granted preliminary approval. RG/2 Claims Administration LLC began sending notice, the settlement website went live, and the claim window now runs through October 5, 2026.
Two Groups, Two Completely Different Steps
The certified class is all veterans who have been charged a fee by Just4Veterans LLC in connection with a VA disability claim. For settlement purposes the class covers veterans who were charged or who paid such a fee on or after September 20, 2020, through the Effective Date. J4V’s rough estimate, stated in the settlement agreement, is that the class includes approximately 2,338 people.
| Charged and actually paid | The only class members eligible for money — and only if they file a valid Claim Form by October 5, 2026. |
| Charged but never paid | The settlement calls them Non-Paying Participating Class Members. They receive no cash, but their alleged debt to J4V is discharged and they do not have to file anything. |
Excluded from the class are J4V’s current and former employees, officers, directors, agents and independent contractors, along with its parent companies and any entity in which J4V or its parents hold a controlling interest; anyone who properly and timely excludes themselves; and employees of the court.
How the Money Works
The settlement does not publish a per-person dollar figure, and it cannot: what each claimant receives depends on how much that person paid J4V and how many approved claims come in.
The defendants are funding a gross settlement fund of $750,000, paid as a $150,000 initial deposit followed by nine monthly installments of $66,666.67. Settlement administration costs are paid separately by the defendants and do not come out of the fund. Deducted from the fund, if the court approves them, are attorneys’ fees and expenses — class counsel has said it will request up to 40 percent of the $750,000 plus documented expenses — and service awards of up to $5,000 each for the two class representatives. If the court awarded both at those caps, roughly $440,000 would remain before taxes and tax-related expenses. That is arithmetic from the agreement rather than a figure the settlement publishes, and the court can award less.
Whatever remains is the Net Settlement Fund. Each approved claimant’s share is calculated by dividing the fees that person paid J4V by the total fees paid by all approved claimants, then applying that fraction to the fund. Two limits matter:
- No claimant can receive more than the amount actually paid to J4V during the class period.
- Any money left over because of that cap is redistributed pro rata among claimants who have not hit their own cap.
The administrator may also raise very small payments to a minimum threshold — the Plan of Allocation gives $10 as an example — and adjust other payments proportionately. No part of the fund reverts to the defendants. If money remains after the first round and a second distribution is not economically feasible, the balance goes, subject to court approval, to one or more non-profit organizations serving veterans.
The Part That Is Not Cash
The fund is not the whole deal. Two non-monetary terms apply to every class member who does not opt out, and class counsel has described the debt relief as the larger benefit for many veterans in the class.
Fee discharge. On the Effective Date, the defendants fully and permanently discharge, waive and release any claimed right to collect fees or invoices from any class member for VA-related services provided before that date. Purported contracts and invoices are treated as void as to those fees, and J4V agrees not to pursue collection activity, credit reporting or litigation over them. Within twenty business days of the Effective Date, J4V is to update its internal accounting and collection systems to reflect the cancellation.
Permanent stop on new VA clients. Beginning on the Execution Date, J4V agrees not to enter into new contracts to provide VA-related services and not to solicit or accept new clients for them. The agreement makes this permanent and says it continues after the case is dismissed. It binds Just4Veterans LLC — the Maryland entity named as a defendant — and J4V may still service and collect from people who validly opt out and from clients outside the class period.
That matters for the opt-out decision in a way cash settlements usually do not: opting out forfeits the fee discharge as well as any payment, which means an opt-out who was billed but never paid gives up debt relief in exchange for the right to sue.
What You Need to File
The online claim form is hosted on the administrator’s portal and opens only after you enter the Unique ID and Password printed on the email notice you received. Those credentials are unique to each class member, so a veteran who never got the notice, or who deleted it, cannot simply file online.
Beyond the login, the form is meant to be straightforward. Under the Plan of Allocation it should arrive pre-populated with your name, contact information and the payment amount shown in the defendants’ records. You confirm or update your contact details, confirm, correct or dispute the pre-populated payment amount, choose a check or an electronic payment, and attest under penalty of perjury that the information is true. Receipts are not required unless you dispute the recorded amount, in which case you may submit documentation or an explanation for the administrator to review.
If the administrator finds a claim incomplete or deficient, it must notify you and give you a chance to cure — not less than fifteen business days from the date of that notice. A claim that is never cured can be rejected, but rejection does not push you out of the class: you remain a class member and still receive any non-monetary relief that applies to you, including the fee discharge.
If you cannot locate your Unique ID and Password, or you believe you are a class member but never received a notice, the notice directs you to ask the administrator to reset your login or mail you a paper claim form. Make that request through the contact page on the official settlement website, and make it early enough that a paper form can be returned before the deadline.
Dates
- September 3, 2026 — exclusion (opt-out) deadline. A written, signed request must be postmarked by then. Opting out means you get nothing — no cash and no fee discharge — but you keep the right to sue on your own. Objections were due the same day, filed with the court and served on counsel for both sides; anyone who requested exclusion is barred from objecting.
- October 5, 2026 — claim deadline. Claim Forms must be submitted online or postmarked by that date. The notice gives the date without a timezone, so do not count on a late-evening cutoff.
- October 14, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. — Final Fairness Hearing, Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Rockville, Maryland. You may attend at your own expense, but you may speak only if you objected in writing on time and said you intended to appear.
Approval is not the end of the timeline. Under the agreement the Effective Date arrives only after the court enters a final approval order and the time to appeal runs out with no appeal filed — or, if an appeal is filed, after the order is affirmed in full and is no longer subject to review. Payments are calculated and issued after that. Checks are to stay valid for at least ninety days, and if enough money is left over from uncashed checks the administrator may run a second distribution, limited to claimants who cashed or received their first payment. No payment date has been announced.
How to File
Filing runs through the official settlement website at J4VSettlement.com, which links to the administrator’s claim portal. Open the File a Claim page, enter the Unique ID and Password from your email notice, confirm or correct your contact information and the payment amount on file, choose a paper check or an electronic payment, and submit before October 5, 2026. A paper Claim Form may be requested from the administrator and must be postmarked by the same date.
If you were billed by J4V but never paid, there is nothing to file — the discharge reaches you automatically as long as you stay in the class.
One caution worth repeating: the only place to file is the official settlement website. A legitimate administrator does not charge a fee to process a settlement payment and does not demand a bank password. If a message about this settlement reaches you out of the blue, go to the official site directly rather than following the link.
Source and credit: the settlement terms, deadlines and benefit tiers described above are drawn from our sister site’s reporting — OpenClassActions.com: Just4Veterans Settlement — $750K for VA Claim Fees — which tracks this case against the court-approved notice and the official settlement website and is updated as the court rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
I was billed by Just4Veterans but never paid. Do I need to file?
No. The settlement calls that group Non-Paying Participating Class Members. They receive no cash, but on the Effective Date the defendants permanently discharge any claimed right to collect those fees, treat the purported contracts and invoices as void as to them, and agree not to pursue collection activity, credit reporting or litigation. That relief arrives without a claim form as long as you stay in the class.
How much will a paying class member receive?
No per-person figure is published. Each approved claimant receives a pro rata share calculated by dividing the fees that person paid J4V by the total fees paid by all approved claimants, applied to the Net Settlement Fund. No claimant can receive more than they actually paid J4V during the class period, and money freed up by that cap is redistributed among claimants who have not hit their own cap.
What is left of the $750,000 after fees?
The court decides. Class counsel has said it will request up to 40 percent of the $750,000 plus documented expenses, and service awards of up to $5,000 each for the two class representatives. If both were awarded at those caps, roughly $440,000 would remain before taxes and tax-related expenses. Settlement administration costs are paid separately by the defendants and do not reduce the fund. The court can award less than requested.
I never received a notice with a Unique ID and Password. Can I still claim?
You need the credentials to file online, and they are unique to each class member. The notice directs anyone who cannot locate them, or who believes they are a class member but never received a notice, to ask the administrator through the contact page on the official settlement website to reset the login or mail a paper claim form. Make that request early enough for a paper form to be returned by October 5, 2026.
What does opting out cost me?
Both the cash and the debt relief. An exclusion request had to be postmarked by September 3, 2026, and opting out means receiving nothing from the settlement – no payment and no fee discharge – in exchange for keeping the right to sue on your own. J4V may still service and collect from people who validly opted out.
Can Just4Veterans take on new VA clients?
Not under the settlement. Beginning on the Execution Date, J4V agreed not to enter into new contracts to provide VA-related services and not to solicit or accept new clients for them. The agreement makes that permanent and says it continues after the case is dismissed. It binds Just4Veterans LLC, the Maryland entity named as a defendant.
Sources
- Official settlement website — J4VSettlement.com, including its home, File a Claim and Court Documents pages.
- Notice of Class Action Settlement and Final Fairness Hearing, authorized by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland.
- Class Action Settlement Agreement and the attached Plan of Allocation — the $750,000 fund and installment schedule, the fee discharge, the permanent bar on new VA clients, and the pro rata calculation capped at amounts actually paid.
- OpenClassActions.com — Just4Veterans Settlement — $750K for VA Claim Fees.
Legal Disclaimer
This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. OpenClassActions.org is a consumer news site, not a law firm and not the settlement administrator, and is not affiliated with any party to the case described. The allegations are allegations; the defendants deny wrongdoing and no court has decided the merits. Deadlines, benefit amounts and payment timing can change as the court and the administrator act, so confirm current status on the official settlement website. You never need to pay anyone to file a claim or to receive a settlement payment.