Laguna Honda Hospital Patient Rights and Privacy Settlement

The settlement has two different classes. The Patients’ Rights Class is based on living at Laguna Honda during the specified 2022–2023 period. The Confidentiality Class requires receiving the specified written notice about private medical and health information.

Getting this notice means the defendant’s records indicate that you may be in one or both classes; it does not itself settle any individual question about membership.

• Patients’ Rights Class: patients at Laguna Honda Hospital from April 14, 2022, through August 16, 2023.
• Confidentiality Class: LHH patients from March 23, 2017, to February 17, 2026, or their responsible party, who received the described written privacy notice from the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
• A person can qualify for both classes.

The exact amount for a Patients’ Rights Class member cannot be calculated from this notice alone. The additional residency-days amount depends on the person’s days at LHH compared with the total residency days for all members of that class, and on the net settlement funds available.

• Confidentiality Class members are allocated $750.
• Patients’ Rights Class members are allocated a $1,000 base payment plus an additional amount tied to their share of all Patients’ Rights Class residency days during the class period.
• If someone qualifies for both classes, the notice provides the applicable Confidentiality Class payment first and then the Patients’ Rights Class payments.

The special needs trust is managed by a nonprofit trustee. The notice says the account can pay qualified expenses and that funds are generally paid directly to vendors rather than directly to the beneficiary.

The notice says the trust option is intended to allow use of funds without losing SSI or Medicaid eligibility. It also says the trust administrator will guide people through an application process after court approval, but does not give the application’s detailed requirements in this notice.

• Option 1: receive the settlement as a cash payment.
• Option 2: have the settlement paid into a pooled special needs trust account.
• Use the Distribution Election Postcard that came with the notice, its email link, or the online election method using the CPT ID and Passcode shown on the notice.

You do not need to make an election to remain in the settlement. However, failing to make an election means you will not participate in the pooled special needs trust and will instead be assigned the cash option, unless you timely opt out.

• Return the election postcard or make an online election by November 10, 2026, if you want to select between cash and the trust.
• If you stay in the settlement but do not make either election by the deadline, the notice says you will be treated as choosing cash.
• The notice does not expressly state what supporting documents, if any, are required for the trust application process.

The settlement fund is $5,750,000. Administration start-up costs and court-approved lawyer fees and expenses are paid before the net fund is distributed. The notice estimates the net amount at about $3,907,500, but that is an estimate, not a promised payment amount.

• Cash payments require final court approval.
• The final approval hearing is scheduled for January 29, 2027, at 9:30 a.m., but the court may change it.
• The notice does not give a date when initial payments will be sent.

This is a later request process for an unpaid award. The notice does not spell out the documents or other information needed to verify membership.

• A class member who has not been paid may submit a Distribution Request within 90 days after the Election Period.
• A legal successor of a deceased class member may also submit one.
• The Notice Administrator must verify that the person on whose behalf the request is made is a class member, and funds must still be available.

Opting out means you will not receive settlement money and cannot object to the settlement. The notice says you will not be bound by the case and may be able to bring your own case about these issues.

• To leave the settlement, mail a signed written Request for Exclusion by the deadline.
• The request must include your name, current address, phone number, email address if applicable, a clear request to be excluded, and your personal signature.
• The notice lists November 10, 2026, as the deadline to opt out or object.

The notice describes written-objection contents, including contact information, a statement about LHH residence during the applicable class period, whether you or your lawyer plan to attend the hearing, reasons for the objection, and a signature. You cannot object if you opt out.

• You may object in writing if you stay in the settlement.
• The objection should explain your reasons and say whether it concerns only you, part of the class, or the whole class.
• The notice also says class members may object by appearing at the final approval hearing without prior notice.

The notice does not define the Effective Date or say whether someone assigned cash by default, rather than making an election, is eligible for a supplemental distribution.

• No settlement money returns to the defendant.
• If enough unclaimed money remains 90 days after the Effective Date and another distribution is economically practical, it will go to class members who made a timely payment election, using their original payment method.
• Otherwise, the remaining balance may be sent to an approved charitable recipient through cy pres.