I got like $550 from the Illinois Facebook biometrics lawsuit, largest I ever got. Helped find my new pellet grill.
But most of them are a couple bucks. It only takes a couple minutes of my time usually, so I might as well get that "free" money.
My favorite one was Red Bull's "wings" lawsuit. Had the option of getting a small dollar amount or a 4 pack of Red Bulls (which I loved the irony). The 4 pack was greater value than the cash, so I took that.
I don't believe the company being sued gets to keep the money, but how I think it works is:
Company is sued. Judgement happens for $X million, they pay that to the settlement fund. The lawyers take their fee for working the case. The remaining money is then split among those affected by the company's actions.
So the reason you should claim it is because you're losing out on your share. But if you (and others) don't, those that do get a larger share.
The idea here is that you only file if you were affected by the actions. The payout is your damages from those actions.
Use them to buy gift cards to places that you actually want to use, but this only works if you are able to choose your own amount.
Example: you can reload Amazon "gift card balance" with a credit card and choose how much to add. Do so with one $5 card, then do the next. I believe Steam, etc have similar functions, basically anything with a "wallet".
Because he knows what you're doing with that c-note, you degenerate.