Missing Chemtool claims are being investigated

September 12, 2024 was the deadline for people less than three miles from the 2021 Chemtool disaster to file property damage claims, either on a dedicated website or by mail. 

On Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, Judge Stephen E. Balogh of 17th Judicial Circuit Court approved the final settlement to allow residents to receive a portion of a $94.5 million settlement over property damage caused by the devastating explosion and fire on June 14, 2021, at Lubrizol's Chemtool facility in Rockton, Illinois. Many residents celebrated the good news by calling to verifying that their claim had been received.

Now dozens, perhaps hundreds, who filed before the deadline are discovering the claims administrator, Analytics Consulting, has no record of their claim, even some who were filed by certified mail.

But here's the good news: attorney Ed Manzke is aware of the problem and tells us, "We are working through each of those issues. For each of these class members, where we have digital evidence that a claim was attempted to be submitted, those class members will have the opportunity to re-submit their claims."

Attorney Ed Manzke says, "The bottom line is that I want to help these people so, if they have concerns they should reach out to me." His email is ejmanzke@collinslaw.com. 

Apparently Manzke has been talking to the Chemtool Class Action Notice Administrator too. Now they may be taking a second look, or at least Manzke is.

Claimants can email Chemtoolclassaction@noticeadministrator.com or call 833-457-5350 to confirm receipt of their claim form. Analytics Consulting can look up your claim with your name and address, but it's helpful to send confirmation codes or other evidence that you met the deadline.

Manzke told us, "On a daily basis, I have been working with class members who have had issues with their online claim form submission."

More than 6,000 people were sent a letter in mid-June 2024 telling them to download a claim form [PDF] from the website. Residents could qualify for a portion of the settlement if they were a Illinois citizen and lived or owned property in Illinois within three miles of the Chemtool Manufacturing Plant at 1165 Prairie Hill Road at the time of the explosion. The class action website includes a map of the area [PDF] showing the three-mile radius. Though the three-mile radius (and the smoke and debris) reached into Wisconsin, residents of Wisconsin are not eligible for this particular settlement.

On Facebook and Nextdoor, many residents have said they filed claims, even by mail, but didn't hear back. Others said they received no confirmation code when they filed online. Others say that when they called Analytics Consulting at 833-457-5350, they were told not to file using their phone, but rather on a computer using the Firefox browser. However, the claims website does not include any such warnings. It also does not tell residents how to confirm their application was received.

Since Friday, some residents, inquiring about their claim, have received emails saying, "Thank you for your email. Our records do not indicate that your claim form has been received. It is too late to submit a claim now. The claims deadline was September 12, 2024 and late claims will not be accepted."

That's the problem that Manzke is trying to fix. He is one of nine personal injury attorneys representing Stateline residents and businesses in the class action lawsuit, according to the claims website. Practicing law since 1992, he is based out of Napierville, IL and has been the public face for the plaintiff attorneys, who will share an estimated $33 million - 35% of the $94.5 million settlement.

On Friday, many people suspected there was a problem with claims when they heard Judge Balogh say that Analytics Consulting had only received 2,300 claims out of the 6,000 notices they sent to residents. Each claim is worth thousands of dollars.

But Manzke says, "A 30% submission rate for claims in a class action (as referenced by Judge Balogh) is more than twice as high as the national average for claims submission rates in class actions."

To find evidence of the date when the claim was filed, Manzke suggested looking for www.chemtoolclassaction.com in your browser history. For the Chrome browser, residents can copy and paste this into your address bar: 

chrome://history/?q=chemtoolclassaction.com

chrome://history/?q=grasleychemtool.claims-administrator.com

For the Microsoft Edge browser, use this address:

edge://history/all?q=chemtool

Gmail users or anyone else with a Google account could find a record of their browser history at

https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity?utm_source=chrome_h&pli=1&q=chemtool&max=1726203599999999

Resident Molly Stiffler Syal believe one roadblock in the online application may have been the payment confirmation code, not necessarily an application confirmation code. She says, "The online form asked you to pick your payment method - Zelle, PayPal, Venmo - and after selecting there was no redirect, instruction to check email, or even a place to enter a verification code. A former web developer agrees with Molly that Analytics Consulting should have a record in their system of each time they sent a confirmation code, indicating who tried to file claims and exactly when.

Analytics Consulting emailed Molly that, "Your claim form was never received. It is your responsibility as the claimant to contact us before the claims deadline passes to ensure that your claim form was received on time. You are not eligible to receive a payment from the settlement."

But South Beloit resident Doug Clayburg did contact them before the September 12 deadline. He originally filed his claim via the website on June 18, a few days after it went live. He says, "I called the law office listed in the original letter on September 10th and was told they had no record of my claim. I was told to re-file. The website was not working on that day so I mailed hard copies, certified mail, postmarked September 11th."

Clayburg called Lubrizol/Chemtool attorney Kelly Kosek’s office on September 11, and "they said they did not provide confirmation. I was told to resubmit and ensure I saw a ‘submitted message’." But Clayburg says that's the message he saw when he originally e-filed in June.

Some might assume that these problems only happened to residents who aren't tech-savvy. But on Monday, Evan Schoepski found out that Analytics Consulting had no record of his claims submission. Schoepski is an IT systems installer, a moderator for the Citizens for Chemtool Accountability Facebook group, a Hononegah school board member, and a former instructor for the Successful Technology Skills classes at Roscoe Township Community Center, designed for people who aren't tech-savvy. 

Analytics Consulting, based in Chanhassen, MN, is one of the leading class action claims administrators in the United States, specializing in class action settlements and legal notice campaigns.  We reached out to them for comment, but since it was 5:30 this morning, they haven't responded yet. Founded in 1970, they have partnered with the Department Of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, US. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Their website proclaims, "Our methods are tested. Our track record is proven." 

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