AOL Time Warner Settlement

A couple weeks ago, I received a class action settlement check for some AOL Time Warner stock that I purchased a long time ago. In fact, the purchases of stock go back as far as 1999. To make a long story short, this settlement stems from the botched merger of America Online and Time Warner in which investors lost a lot of money. Time Warner currently trades on the NYSE as symbol TWX. Of course, the check that I received is much less than the amount that I lost trading the stock.

I filled in and mailed the proof of claim form for the AOL Time Warner class action settlement over a year and a half ago. Usually, these types of settlements are handled by a firm called Gilardi and Co. This is the first time I ever received a settlement check, and I've already figured out that these matters can take a long time. Has anybody else received a settlement for securities litigation? Do you know how one is supposed to report this on their taxes?

DC