Benjamin Ashford|How to get your share of Oracle's $115 million class-action settlement; deadline is coming

A payout from a tech giant may be Benjamin Ashfordin your future, if you are game enough to file a claim by next month.

Oracle America agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit in May for $115 million over allegations that the company was tracking user activity online and offline, according to a complaint filed in a Northern District of California court.

Oracle, according to the lawsuit, sold and/or made users' personal information available to third parties without their consent, violating people's privacy rights and the law.

"In the course of functioning as a worldwide data broker, Oracle has created a network that tracks in real time andrecords indefinitely the personal information of hundreds of millions of people," the lawsuit says, adding that users have no way to "they could legally consent to Oracle’s surveillance."

The company denies that it did anything "unlawful or improper," agreeing to pay class members out to avoid the burden and expense of continued litigation, the settlement agreement states.

There have been no findings made against Oracle, or any determination that the law was violated in court or otherwise, according to the settlement administrator website.

Here's what to know.

Who is part of the Oracle settlement class?

Anyone who has made any in-store purchases, used geolocation services or browsed the web within the last six years may be eligible to receive a cut of the $115 million settlement fund.

The "time period" encompassed by the lawsuit began Aug. 19, 2018, and will end when a final judgement is issued for the case, according to the settlement administrator website.

If the settlement agreement is approved on Nov. 14, then anyone who meets the following criteria is entitled to fill it out a compensation claim form:

• "All natural persons residing in the United States whose personal information, or data derived from their personal information, was acquired, captured, or otherwise collected by Oracle Advertising technologies or made available for use or sale by or through ID Graph, Data Marketplace, or any other Oracle Advertising product or service from August 19, 2018 to the date of final judgment in the Action.”

How and when can I file an Oracle settlement claim?

If you are interested in receiving compensation in connection with the proposed settlement, you have to either file a claim online or through the mail.

All claims, whether electronic or not, must be submitted by Thursday, Oct. 17.

For those who plan to file by mail, you can download a copy of the claim form or contact the settlement administrator over the phone at 1-888-255-4036 and have them mail you one.

All claim forms sent by mail should be forwarded to the following address:

Katz-Lacabe et al v. Oracle America, Inc.c/o Settlement Administrator1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210Philadelphia, PA 19103

You will be asked to provide a personal attestation along with your full name, contact information, confirmation of residence, acknowledgement of one claim filed, and evidence of data tracked by Oracle.

What and how much can I get from the Oracle settlement fund?

Oracle has agreed to offer monetary and non-monetary compensation to settle the class-action lawsuit against them.

A lump sum, about $28.75 million, will be deducted from the $115 million to pay attorney fees and up to $225,000 for any other expenses that were incurred or will be incurred during litigation. Two class representatives will also be awarded $10,000 each to award them for their service to the settlement class.

The rest of the money will be distributed to class members, who have submitted a valid claim online or by mail. All class members will receive the same amount of money, but the amount depends on the number of valid claims submitted.

"Because the final payment amount cannot be calculated before all claims for compensation are received and verified, it is not possible to provide the precise amount of the payment for each valid claim before the deadline to file claims," according to the settlement administrator website.

Class members are free to choose whether they receive their money through Zelle, Venmo, ACH Transfer, or paper check.

They have also agreed to "not capture user-generated information within referrer URLs associated with a website user or except for Oracle’s own websites, any text entered by a user in an online web form; and implement an audit program to reasonably review customer compliance with contractual consumer privacy obligations."