Former patients of San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital, and the relatives who spoke for them, have until November 10, 2026 to take part in a $5.75 million settlement with the city. Members of one class are entitled to $750 each, and members of a second class get an initial base payment of $1,000. The same November 10 date applies to objecting or opting out.
The case is Johnson v. City and County of San Francisco, filed in San Francisco Superior Court. Class members allege the city violated California Health and Safety Code section 1430(b) and the state’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. The official settlement site says the parties agreed to settle in May 2025 and that the court has not decided the case for either side.
The court certified two classes on July 26, 2024. The Confidentiality Class covers all Laguna Honda patients from March 23, 2017 to February 17, 2026, or their responsible party, who received written notice from the San Francisco Department of Public Health that their private medical information was acquired and passed to people not entitled to see it.
Retirement deadlines, in your inbox: Miss an enrollment or claim deadline and the money can be gone. The Retirement Money Brief keeps you ahead of the ones that matter, every weekday.
Get the Retirement Money Brief →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
The Patients’ Rights Class is defined by dates alone. It covers all Laguna Honda patients from April 14, 2022 through August 16, 2023. A patient admitted at any point in that sixteen-month stretch is inside the class, whether or not a notice about medical information ever arrived.
Two payments with different rules
Confidentiality Class members “shall each be entitled to” an award of $750, according to the settlement site. The wording describes a flat entitlement rather than a range. Nothing on the site ties the amount to length of stay, type of care or a showing of harm.
The Patients’ Rights Class payment is built differently. The site calls it an “initial, base payment” of $1,000, paid after the Confidentiality Class awards go out. The word initial matters because it leaves room for a different final figure, and the settlement FAQ does not say whether the $1,000 can rise or fall.
The class periods overlap. A patient who lived at Laguna Honda in 2022 or 2023 and also received the written privacy notice could fall in both groups. The FAQ does not say whether such a person receives both payments, and that is a question for the administrator, not something to assume from the headline numbers.
One date covers three choices
November 10, 2026 is the deadline for each option listed on the site. Participating means staying in the class and obtaining settlement benefits while giving up certain legal rights. Objecting means staying in the class but telling the court the terms are unfair. Opting out means leaving the settlement and getting no payment.
The way to participate is the “Submit Distribution Election” link on the settlement site, which leads to a login page. The site does not explain what a distribution election asks for. It also does not say what happens to a class member who does nothing, so a family should not rely on the payment arriving without that step.
Because the Confidentiality Class includes a patient’s “responsible party,” the person acting may be an adult child, guardian or other representative rather than the former patient. The site does not spell out what documents a representative must provide. Questions go to the administrator, CPT Group of Irvine, California, at 1-888-261-1713 or LHHSettlement@cptgroup.com.
What the settlement pages do not say
The site gives no date for the court’s final approval hearing, no payment date and no description of how money will be delivered. It also leaves out tax treatment and attorney fees. Anyone planning around the money should expect those answers to come from the administrator or the Court Documents section of the site.
The fund size is the same on every page: the City and County of San Francisco agreed to pay $5,750,000. KQED reported in November 2025 that the money was to be shared among 735 current and former Laguna Honda patients, with the city’s Government Audit and Oversight Committee still to approve it. The settlement site gives no class count.
KQED’s account of the settlement also laid out what the lawsuit was about. It reported allegations that staff took explicit photos of patients and shared them for non-medical purposes. Kathryn Stebner, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the case was meant to send a message about systemic problems.
For families, the practical question is which class a relative belongs to and whether a form must be submitted before November 10. A patient from 2022 or 2023 may qualify for the $1,000 payment, and a patient who received the Department of Public Health notice may qualify for the $750 award. The site leaves the rest to the administrator.
Opting out is the only choice the site says ends any payment. Staying in and doing nothing is the option the site never explains. With the deadline about two weeks away, families holding the notice have one question left to settle before then: what exactly the election must say.
Sorting out which Laguna Honda class a relative belongs to?
The election, objection and opt-out choices all end on November 10, and the settlement site does not say what happens to a class member who never acts. A family that misreads which class applies, or never logs the date, can lose a payment of $750 or $1,000 without any warning.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice, a step-by-step filing walkthrough and a claim log and payment tracker. Its large-print quick-start sheet suits a notice that a family is sorting through at the kitchen table.
Log the November 10 election in a settlement claim tracker and filing system →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- The New $6,000 Senior Deduction and 14 More Tax Moves for Retirees
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
