A lot of people delete retail emails without even reading the subject lines. It starts with “sale today,” “last chance,” and “member savings ending soon.” After a while, they all blend together. Some shoppers in Washington state may have lost more money than they thought because they ignored them. Because it was said that those Costco marketing emails had more than just marketing noise in them. Some things were said that were not true.
A lawsuit called Michael Aaland v. Costco Wholesale Corporation is a class action lawsuit that says Costco sent emails with subject lines like “Today is the last day to access Member-Only Savings” or “Hot Buys available for 5 Days Only” advertising limited-time deals, but the deals were said to have ended much earlier than the dates given. Washington’s Commercial Electronic Mail Act (CEMA) and the state’s Consumer Protection Act are said to have been broken by this practice. Costco has denied doing anything wrong, saying it followed the law and only agreed to settle to avoid the cost and uncertainty of a long court case. The company did not do anything wrong according to the court.
But $14 million is still a lot of money. That’s what Costco agreed to do to settle the case, and people in Washington who got qualifying emails between June 2, 2021, and July 7, 2026, might be able to get some of it. A lot of people who are eligible to make claims might not even know about this settlement. This happens a lot in these kinds of class action cases. People who are eligible, how to file, and what to expect tend to get lost in the noise of these things.
This is how it really works. Costco or someone working for the company sent at least one commercial email to a Washington state address during that five-year period. If that address shows up in the company’s records, you probably qualify. There is no need for receipts. You don’t need to show that you bought it. The court-approved settlement website, washingtoncommercialemailsettlement.com, is where you can file everything online. The last day to send in a claim is August 24, 2026. If you’d rather mail it in, you can also get a paper form that you can date and send in that way.
The payout amount, on the other hand, is really unknown. The CEMA law in Washington technically lets you get up to $500 per qualifying email. That sounds like a lot of money, considering how many promotional emails a Costco member might get in five years. That’s not how the settlement works, though. After attorney fees, court costs, and administrative costs are taken out of that $14 million, the rest will be split evenly among all claimants who were approved. It is more expensive for everyone when fewer people file. The file size gets smaller as more people file it. Still, no one knows where that math goes.
It seems like most people will read this story quickly, say “maybe,” and then do nothing. This is exactly what happens with most class action settlements. If you miss the deadline, you will not be able to get any compensation and will also not be able to file any more claims about the same allegations. The last court hearing to approve the settlement is set for October 2, 2026, in Seattle. This means that nothing is set in stone just yet.
Costco may have misled people with those email subject lines, but the court never had to officially say so. It’s clear that someone sued, a big store agreed to a big settlement, and the people it affected still have a small window of time to file a claim. For people in Washington who got those emails, it might be worth your time to read them again before August 24.
