$7 is the whole payment, and it is one of the few settlement figures on the board right now that cannot be cut. It is fixed in the settlement agreement rather than carved out of a shared fund, so it does not shrink if 900,000 people file. No receipts are required, the claim form asks for no purchase records at all, and the deadline is November 3, 2026.
Status: Claims open | Claim, opt-out and objection deadline all November 3, 2026 | $7.00 flat per valid claim | Roughly 900,000 class members
What the Case Is About
Garcia v. Schnuck Markets, Inc., Case No. 25SL-CC04761, was filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri on May 5, 2025. The petition alleges that when a Schnucks Rewards member redeemed Rewards Points on a purchase, Schnucks calculated and charged Missouri sales tax on the full pre-discount price rather than on the lower discounted price. It pleads unlawful, unfair, deceptive and misleading practices along with unjust enrichment, negligence, and money had and received.
Schnucks moved to dismiss and to compel arbitration in June 2025, withdrew the arbitration motion before argument, and the court denied the motion to dismiss on September 9, 2025. The parties mediated on January 13, 2026 before Bradley A. Winters and signed the settlement agreement in June 2026.
Schnucks denies all allegations of wrongdoing and disclaims liability on every claim. The settlement agreement states it is made without any admission or concession of liability, and the company’s own summary says it entered the settlement to reach an expedient, agreeable solution. The court has made no determination on the merits.
Four Things Have to Line Up
The settlement class is Schnucks Rewards Members, excluding Schnucks employees, who completed purchases of tax-eligible items from any Schnucks store in the state of Missouri during the class period, whether in person or online, in which Rewards Points were redeemed. The class period runs May 2, 2020 through August 7, 2026.
- You had to be enrolled in Schnucks Rewards.
- The purchase had to be at a Missouri store — Schnucks operates in several states, and the case is about Missouri sales tax.
- The items had to be tax-eligible, so a purchase made up entirely of exempt goods does not count.
- Rewards Points had to be redeemed on that transaction. An ordinary purchase at the shelf price is outside the class no matter how much you spent.
The notice and the claim form add a qualifier the settlement agreement’s class definition does not spell out: the purchases must have been primarily for personal, family or household purposes. The paper claim form asks you to confirm that, along with confirming that it is your first and only claim and that you are not a Schnucks employee or an immediate family member of one.
Excluded are Judge Richard M. Stewart and any judge who later presides, counsel for both sides and their firms, the mediator, their employees and immediate families, any government entity, Schnucks itself and any entity it controls along with its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers and directors, and anyone who timely opts out.
Schnucks estimates roughly 900,000 people are in the class and says it has email addresses for almost all of them, so in practice the test is whether a notice reached you.
Why $7 Is Not an Estimate
Every claimant who submits a timely and valid claim form is paid $7.00. There are no tiers, no documented-loss category and no pro rata calculation. The amount is fixed in the settlement agreement.
That distinction is the whole reason this settlement is worth a separate look. On a common-fund settlement, a published per-person figure is an estimate divided out of a fixed pot after fees, costs and service awards come off the top, and it falls as the claim count rises. Here Schnucks has agreed to pay valid claims up to approximately $6,300,000 — which is what roughly 900,000 claims at $7 would cost if every class member filed — and the money for claims sits outside every other payment in the deal.
Notice and administration costs are paid separately. The fee award and service award are separate again. Class counsel may apply for up to $1,980,000 in attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses, which Schnucks has agreed not to oppose, and will ask the court to approve a $7,000 service award for the class representative. The court decides both, and the agreement provides that if it awards less than requested the difference is simply not payable — it does not revert to a fund for the class, and the settlement stays in force either way.
Choose How You Get Paid — But Only If You File Online
Payments go out as paper checks or as digital payments, and the parties agreed to work toward PayPal and Venmo as the administrator approves. That choice is only available to online filers. A class member who mails a paper claim form can select a physical check only, and has to supply correct contact information for it to reach them.
The check-cashing rules are tight enough to matter. A check must be negotiated within 60 days of issuance or it is voided and a second one is issued, subject to the same 60-day window. After that the administrator may issue a third check only where a claimant shows special circumstances — described in the agreement as a claimant who exercised due diligence and still could not cash the first two. A failed PayPal or Venmo payment triggers a request to link the payment to another account, and if nothing happens within 30 days the payment is voided and a paper check is issued instead.
The Register Is Changing Too
The settlement carries relief that does not depend on filing anything. Under the injunctive relief, Schnucks will treat the dollar value of Rewards Points redeemed on a transaction as a pre-tax discount, lowering the pre-tax subtotal, and will calculate sales tax due on that discounted subtotal.
The notice puts the deadline for that point-of-sale change at March 31, 2027, and the change applies to Missouri transactions involving a Rewards Points redemption. The agreement says compliance is subject to the regulatory and statutory requirements in force at the time, and a separate paragraph allows Schnucks a reasonable extension, on a showing of good-faith effort, if it cannot finish the work before December 31, 2026.
No Receipts — But an Access Code to File Online
No receipts, no records of individual purchases and no evidence of what you were charged are required.
Proof is still required in one narrow sense: the online claim form opens only after you enter an Access Code and a PIN, both printed on the postcard notice. The settlement website states plainly that you cannot file online without them, and someone who never received a notice cannot simply log in and file.
There are two routes around that login. Class members notified by email were sent a link that goes directly to the claim form, so the code is not the only way in. And anyone can download a paper claim form from the settlement website, complete it and mail it — the site says so explicitly for people who never received a postcard or have misplaced it. The trade-offs on the paper route are real: a paper filer is limited to a physical check, must provide correct contact information, and has to get the form postmarked rather than submitted at the last minute.
The claim form itself asks for identity and contact information rather than evidence: your name, mailing address, the telephone number on your Schnucks Rewards account and your email address, plus the three confirmations. You sign and date it, certifying the statements are true to the best of your knowledge, and the form warns that false or misleading submissions may result in denial. The administrator reviews every claim for timeliness and validity, has 30 days from receipt to do it, and sends a notice giving you 30 days to cure a form that is incomplete or inaccurate.
One Date Governs Everything
| November 3, 2026, 11:59 p.m. CT | Online claim forms. Paper claim forms must be postmarked by this date. |
| November 3, 2026 | Requests for exclusion, postmarked and mailed to the administrator. |
| November 3, 2026 | Objections, filed with the court and served on both class counsel and Schnucks’ counsel. |
| December 4, 2026, 9:00 a.m. | Final approval hearing before Judge Richard M. Stewart, St. Louis County Circuit Court, Clayton, Missouri. |
Late forms are denied unless both parties agree otherwise and the court approves. A valid exclusion request has to be personally signed by the class member or an authorized representative and include your full name and current mailing address, the telephone number and email address associated with your Rewards account, and a clear statement that you want to be excluded. Only individual class members may opt out — the agreement does not permit mass or class opt-outs.
You cannot both object and exclude yourself. If a class member submits both, the exclusion is treated as valid and the objection is disregarded.
The Release Binds You Whether or Not You File
On the effective date, every class member who has not excluded themselves fully and forever releases the released parties from claims of every kind connected to the Schnucks sales practices asserted or described in the petition, known or unknown, and is barred from prosecuting any of them in any forum. The released parties reach past Schnucks itself to its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, officers, directors, employees and attorneys. Claims for alleged bodily injury arising out of Schnucks’ sales practices are carved out and are not released.
That is why doing nothing is the worst of the three options: it binds you whether or not you file, so a class member who ignores the notice gives up those claims and is paid nothing for them. Excluding yourself is the only route that keeps the right to bring them on your own, and it costs you the $7.
What Happens Next
At the December 4, 2026 hearing the court will decide whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate under Missouri Supreme Court Rule 52.08, whether to finally certify the settlement class, and whether the notice program met the rule’s requirements, and will rule on any objections and on the fee, cost and service-award requests. The hearing may move to a different division, date or time without further notice.
If the court approves, payment follows a sequence rather than a fixed date. The settlement becomes effective when the final approval order is no longer subject to review, rehearing or appeal — the settlement website describes that as 30 days after final approval if nobody appeals. The administrator then has 14 days after it finishes validating claims to tell Schnucks what the claims are worth, Schnucks funds the total by the later of 30 days after the effective date or 30 days after receiving that figure, and the administrator distributes payments within 30 days of receiving the money. An appeal pushes all of it back. No payment date has been announced.
How to File
File at the official settlement website, Schnucks Tax Settlement. If you received a postcard, the Access Code and PIN printed on it open the online form; if you received the notice by email, the link in that email goes straight to the claim form. A paper claim form can be downloaded from the same site, completed and mailed, and the site’s contact page is the route to ask the administrator for a replacement form or for help. The notice, claim form, settlement agreement and the motions and orders on preliminary and final approval are all posted there as they become available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the Schnucks settlement payment only $7?
The claim is over the sales tax charged on the Rewards Points portion of a discounted purchase, which is a small amount on any one transaction. The settlement agreement sets a flat $7.00 per valid claim rather than a share of a fund, so the figure does not rise or fall with the number of people who file. Schnucks estimates roughly 900,000 class members and has agreed to pay up to approximately $6.3 million in claims, on top of notice and administration costs, the attorneys’ fee award and the service award, all of which it pays separately.
Can the $7 payment shrink if a lot of people file?
No. The amount is fixed in the settlement agreement rather than calculated as a pro rata share of a common fund, so it does not shrink as the claim count rises. That is the opposite of most settlements, where a published per-person figure is an estimate divided out of a fixed pot after fees and costs come off the top.
Do I need my Access Code and PIN to file a Schnucks sales tax claim?
To file online, yes. The claim portal opens only after you enter the Access Code and PIN printed on the postcard notice, and class members who received the notice by email were sent a direct filing link instead. No receipts are required either way. A paper claim form can be downloaded from the settlement website and mailed in, and that route does not depend on the online login – but a paper filer can only be paid by check.
What is Schnucks changing about how it calculates sales tax?
Under the injunctive relief in the settlement agreement, Schnucks will treat the dollar value of Rewards Points redeemed on a transaction as a pre-tax discount, lowering the pre-tax subtotal, and will calculate Missouri sales tax on that discounted subtotal. The notice puts the deadline for the point-of-sale change at March 31, 2027. The agreement also allows Schnucks a reasonable extension on a showing of good-faith effort if it cannot finish the work before December 31, 2026.
What happens if I do nothing about the Schnucks settlement?
You receive no money and you are still bound by the release. The release covers every class member who does not submit a timely request for exclusion, whether or not they file a claim, and it reaches claims connected to the Schnucks sales practices described in the petition. Excluding yourself by November 3, 2026 is the only option that preserves the right to sue Schnucks separately over those claims. Claims for alleged bodily injury arising out of Schnucks’ sales practices are carved out of the release.
What happens to Schnucks settlement checks nobody cashes?
Nothing goes back to Schnucks. A check that is not negotiated within 60 days of issuance is voided and reissued once, and the administrator may issue a third check where a claimant shows special circumstances. The settlement agreement then describes two routes for the money that remains: it says uncashed checks are declared dormant on the 67th day after the second check and escheat to the claimant’s last known state of residence, and in the same paragraph that unclaimed settlement payments are disbursed to ArchCity Defenders or another cy pres recipient the court approves.
Is this the same as the earlier Schnucks alcohol pricing settlement?
No. It is a separate case with a separate class. The earlier Missouri settlement resolved claims that Schnucks charged shelf prices on alcohol that differed from the advertised price; its claim window closed and its payments were completed. This case is about how Missouri sales tax was calculated when Rewards Points were redeemed, and it has its own class period, its own claim form and its own deadline.
Sources
- Official settlement website — Schnucks Tax Settlement (claim portal, FAQ, settlement documents, important dates). Administered by Rust Consulting, Inc.
- Settlement Agreement, Garcia v. Schnuck Markets, Inc., Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, Case No. 25SL-CC04761.
- Detailed Class Notice and Short-Form Class Notice, as posted on the settlement website.
- Schnucks Tax Settlement claim form (paper version), Rust Consulting, Inc.
- OpenClassActions.com — Schnucks Rewards Sales Tax Settlement.
One caption note for anyone comparing documents: the settlement website styles the case Garcia v. Schnuck Market, Inc.; the settlement agreement names the defendant Schnuck Markets, Inc.
Source and credit: the settlement terms, deadlines and benefit tiers described above are drawn from our sister site’s reporting — OpenClassActions.com: Schnucks Rewards Sales Tax Settlement — $7 a Claim — which tracks this case against the court-approved notice and the official settlement website and is updated as the court rules.
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.