Laguna Honda Hospital Patient Rights Settlement

This is Laguna Honda Hospital, not Honda. The carmaker has nothing to do with this settlement, and the name confuses people constantly, so start there. Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center is a public skilled-nursing hospital run by the City and County of San Francisco, and the city — not a car company — is the defendant paying the $5,750,000. There is no claim form and no proof of any kind to submit — payment is automatic for everyone the City's records already identify. The settlement resolves Tommy O. Johnson, et al. v. City and County of San Francisco, et al., Case No. CPF-20-517064, in San Francisco Superior Court. The second thing almost every summary gets wrong is the word “or.” This is not a pick-one settlement. The court certified two separate classes, the notice says class members “potentially may be members of both settlement classes,” and someone in both is paid on both tracks: $750 from the Confidentiality Class AND a $1,000 base from the Patients’ Rights Class AND a Residency Days Payment on top of that — so at least $1,750 plus a residency share, not $750 instead of $1,000. The third thing is the hardest to hear: this is a closed list and you cannot add yourself to it. There is no claim form anywhere on the official site. The City’s own records decide who is in, CPT Group mailed those people a notice with a CPT ID and Passcode, and a Laguna Honda patient who falls outside both class definitions has no route in. Most people who search for this settlement will not qualify. Fourth, the $5.75M is gross and the caps only bite on one piece. After up to $1,437,500 in attorneys’ fees (25%), up to $150,000 in expenses, a $5,000 service award and administration costs, the notice estimates the net fund at about $3,907,500. The $750 is a fixed award, the $1,000 is a floor and not a ceiling, and the Residency Days Payment is the leftover residual — it is the only piece that actually varies. Finally, November 10, 2026 is not a claim deadline — but ignoring it can still cost you. Payment is automatic whether or not you respond. What the date really controls is how you get paid, and doing nothing is not a neutral choice for anyone on SSI or Medi-Cal.

Do I Qualify?

You may be eligible if:

• You are in the PATIENTS' RIGHTS CLASS if you were a patient of Laguna Honda Hospital at any point from April 14, 2022 through August 16, 2023. That is the entire test for this class — no notice, no letter and no privacy violation is required, just residency inside that 16-month window
• You are in the CONFIDENTIALITY CLASS if you were a patient of LHH from March 23, 2017 to February 17, 2026 (or you are that patient's responsible party) AND the San Francisco Department of Public Health SENT YOU WRITTEN NOTICE that your private medical and health information was acquired and disseminated to people not privileged to receive it without your consent. Being an LHH patient during those nine years is NOT enough on its own — the written privacy notice is the gate, and it is the reason this class is far smaller than the date range suggests
• YOU CAN BE IN BOTH, AND BOTH PAY. The notice states class members 'potentially may be members of both settlement classes.' A person who lived at LHH between April 14, 2022 and August 16, 2023 and was also sent a privacy violation notice collects the $750 and the $1,000 base and the Residency Days Payment. Nobody has to pick a side
• THE BIGGEST FILTER: you must already be on the list. If you (or someone you are responsible for) received the notice from CPT Group, the City's records put you in one or both classes. There is no claim form, no sign-up page and no way to self-certify onto the list. A former Laguna Honda patient who was never sent a notice and falls outside both class definitions gets nothing from this settlement, however real their experience was
• You do NOT need to show any harm, injury, fraud, out-of-pocket loss or medical record. Documents play no part in this settlement at all — the awards are computed from the City's residency and notice records
• NO STATE RESTRICTION, but read that honestly. Neither class definition mentions a state, so a former LHH resident who has since moved to another state is still a class member and is still paid. In practice this is a single public hospital in San Francisco, so the class is overwhelmingly Californian and heavily Bay Area
• A LEGAL SUCCESSOR of a class member who has died can still be paid. The successor submits a Distribution Request to CPT Group, which verifies class membership; those requests are accepted up to 90 days after the Election Period ends on November 10, 2026, and payment depends on settlement funds being available
• You have NOT opted out. Anyone who mails a signed exclusion request postmarked by November 10, 2026 receives nothing and keeps the right to sue the City individually

No proof is required, and nothing has to be filed. This is an automatic-payment settlement in the fullest sense: there is no claim form on the official site, no receipts, no medical records, no affidavit and no showing of harm. Eligibility and the amounts are computed from the City and County of San Francisco's own residency and privacy-notice records, which is also why the class is a fixed list rather than an open door. The CPT ID and Passcode are not a claim gate. Every notice CPT Group mailed carries a CPT ID and a Passcode on page 1, but they exist for one narrow purpose — letting you make your payment election online at www.LHHSettlement.com. Losing them does not cost you your settlement award. You can return the paper Distribution Election Postcard instead, or call CPT Group at 1-888-261-1713 to have the codes reissued. The real gate is upstream, and it is absolute. What determines whether you are paid is whether the City's records place you in the Patients’ Rights Class or the Confidentiality Class — and for the Confidentiality Class specifically, whether the San Francisco Department of Public Health actually sent you a written notice that your information was disclosed without your consent. Simply having been an LHH patient between 2017 and 2026 does not put you in that class. There is no documentation you can supply to talk your way in, because there is no form to supply it on. If you think the City's records are wrong or you never received a notice you expected, the only route is to contact CPT Group directly at 1-888-261-1713 or LHHSettlement@cptgroup.com. For a class member who has died, a legal successor submits a Distribution Request to CPT Group, which verifies class membership before paying; the same route is open to a class member who was never paid. Those requests run up to 90 days past the November 10, 2026 Election Period and are contingent on funds remaining available.

What Happened?

Plaintiffs Tommy Johnson and John Doe sued in 2020 on behalf of residents of Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, a public skilled-nursing facility operated by the City and County of San Francisco. Laguna Honda is a city hospital; despite the name it has no connection to Honda Motor Co. or to any vehicle case

The complaint alleged the City and the hospital engaged in a pattern and practice of not complying with the nursing home regulations meant to protect patients' rights, which plaintiffs say harmed residents and contributed to LHH's decertification and the termination of its Medicare and Medicaid provider agreements by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in April 2022

The complaint also alleged violations of patients' rights to privacy and confidentiality in their personal and medical information, under California Health and Safety Code section 1430(b) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, Civil Code section 56 et seq.

On July 26, 2024 the Court granted the plaintiffs' motion for class certification and certified two classes: the Patients' Rights Class (all LHH patients from April 14, 2022 through August 16, 2023) and the Confidentiality Class (LHH patients from March 23, 2017 to February 17, 2026, or their responsible party, whom the San Francisco Department of Public Health sent written notice of an unauthorized disclosure)

In May 2025 the parties agreed to settle for $5,750,000. The City and County of San Francisco denies that it did anything wrong, and the Court has not decided the case in favor of either side

The Court has authorized notice to the classes. CPT Group is the Notice Administrator, Eastern Point Trust Company administers the qualified settlement fund, and the nonprofit CPT Institute administers the pooled special needs trust for class members who elect Option 2

Nothing goes back to the City. The notice states that no monies in the Settlement Fund shall revert to the Defendant; if enough is left 90 days after the Effective Date to make another distribution economical, a supplemental distribution is made, and otherwise the remainder goes to a court-approved 501(c)(3) cy pres recipient nominated by Class Counsel

How to File Your Claim

1. THERE IS NO CLAIM FORM. Do not go looking for one — the official site has no claim page, and nobody has to apply. If you are on the City's list and you do not opt out, you get paid. What November 10, 2026 actually controls is the FORM your payment takes
2. CHECK WHETHER YOU WERE NOTIFIED FIRST. This is a closed list built from the City and County of San Francisco's records. If you or someone you are responsible for received the notice from CPT Group, the City's records put you in the Patients' Rights Class, the Confidentiality Class or both. If you are unsure, call CPT Group at 1-888-261-1713 or email LHHSettlement@cptgroup.com — do not assume you are out
3. MAKE YOUR PAYMENT ELECTION BY NOVEMBER 10, 2026. Mark Option 1 or Option 2 on the Distribution Election Postcard that came with your notice and mail it back, or make the election online at www.LHHSettlement.com using the CPT ID and Passcode printed on page 1 of your notice
4. OPTION 1 — CASH. A direct cash payment. The notice is explicit that by electing cash you accept responsibility for managing the money so as to keep any SSI or Medi-Cal eligibility
5. OPTION 2 — POOLED SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST. Your award goes into an individual account inside a pooled special needs trust run by the nonprofit CPT Institute, which protects the money without affecting SSI or Medicaid (Medi-Cal) eligibility. The trust pays vendors directly for qualified expenses — medical and therapeutic care, support services, cell phones, clothing, travel and entertainment — rather than handing you cash. CPT Institute will answer questions about both options once the Court approves the settlement
6. IF YOU DO NOTHING YOU ARE DEEMED TO HAVE ELECTED OPTION 1 AND ARE PAID IN CASH. Read that twice if you receive SSI or Medi-Cal. A lump sum must be reported to the Social Security Administration and your county Medi-Cal office by the 10th day of the month after you receive it, SSI counts assets over $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple, and anything above the limit has to be spent down that month. For a safety-net nursing-home population, silence is the risky option here, not the safe one
7. ONE MORE REASON NOT TO SIT ON IT: the notice says that if a supplemental distribution becomes economical 90 days after the Effective Date, the leftover money goes 'to the settlement class members who made a timely payment election.' The notice does not spell out whether someone deemed into Option 1 by silence counts as having made a timely election. Returning the postcard removes the question
8. LOST YOUR CPT ID AND PASSCODE, OR MOVED? Contact CPT Group at 1-888-261-1713, email LHHSettlement@cptgroup.com, or write to CPT Group, Inc., PO Box 19504, Irvine, CA 92623. Keeping your address current matters because the payment is mailed to you
9. IF A CLASS MEMBER HAS DIED, a legal successor submits a Distribution Request to CPT Group. So can a class member who simply was never paid. Those requests are accepted up to 90 days after the Election Period ends on November 10, 2026, and payment depends on funds being available
10. TO OPT OUT, mail a signed letter with your name, address, phone number and email saying you want to be excluded, postmarked by November 10, 2026, to the Notice Administrator at the address in your notice. You then receive nothing and keep the right to sue the City on your own
11. TO OBJECT while staying in, send a written objection to the Notice Administrator by November 10, 2026 with your contact details, a statement that you lived at the hospital during the relevant period, whether you or a lawyer will attend the hearing, your reasons and your signature. You may object to the attorneys' fees even if you think the settlement itself is fair. Class members may also appear and speak at the January 29, 2027 hearing
12. Visit the official claim form: https://www.lhhsettlement.com/

How Much Will I Actually Get?

THE TWO AWARDS STACK — THIS IS NOT AN EITHER-OR SETTLEMENT. The scanner headline and most write-ups frame this as '$750, or a $1,000 base plus a share.' The court-authorized notice says the opposite: 'Settlement Class Members potentially may be members of both settlement classes,' and the net fund is allocated in two sequential steps, not as alternatives. A person in both classes is paid on both tracks. (1) CONFIDENTIALITY CLASS — $750. A fixed award of seven hundred fifty dollars to each member. It is paid first, out of the net fund, and it does not vary with anything. (2) PATIENTS' RIGHTS CLASS — $1,000 base PLUS a Residency Days Payment. After the $750 awards are paid, each Patients' Rights Class Member receives an initial base payment of one thousand dollars. Every member then also receives an additional Residency Days Payment. HOW THE RESIDENCY DAYS PAYMENT IS COMPUTED. The notice sets out the arithmetic precisely. First the QSF Administrator totals the days all Patients' Rights Class Members resided at Laguna Honda during the class period ('Total Residency Days'). Second, each member's Residency Days Percentage is that member's residency days divided by Total Residency Days. Third, that percentage is multiplied by the adjusted net Settlement Fund to produce the individual award. Someone who lived at LHH for more days during April 14, 2022 through August 16, 2023 receives a higher award than someone who was there briefly. SO A BOTH-CLASS MEMBER RECEIVES AT LEAST $1,750, plus a residency share on top. WHAT THE NUMBERS ARE NOT. The $750 is a flat award, not a cap on the settlement. The $1,000 is a FLOOR for the Patients' Rights Class, not a ceiling — a long-stay resident can receive considerably more once the Residency Days Payment is added. Neither figure caps the other, and neither caps the fund. THE CAPS THAT DO EXIST APPLY ONLY TO THE LAWYERS' SLICE, NOT TO CLASS PAYMENTS. Class Counsel will ask the Court to approve up to $1,437,500 in attorneys' fees (25% of the total settlement value), reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses not to exceed $150,000, and a $5,000 service award for the Class Representative. Those ceilings bind the fee request; they do not limit what any class member receives. GROSS VERSUS NET. The City pays $5,750,000 into the fund. Administration start-up costs and the fees and expenses the Court approves come out first, and the notice estimates the NET amount class members share at approximately $3,907,500. The $750 and $1,000 figures are paid from that net amount, and only the Residency Days Payment absorbs whatever is left, so it is the single genuinely variable piece of the whole structure. WHAT CAN MOVE YOUR NUMBER. The notice lists four factors: the number of valid opt-out requests, the fees, costs and service payment the Court approves, which class or classes you are in, and — for Patients' Rights Class Members — how many days you lived at Laguna Honda between April 14, 2022 and August 16, 2023. NOTHING IS PAID UNTIL THE COURT SIGNS OFF. Cash payments are contingent on final approval. The Final Approval Hearing is presently set for January 29, 2027 at 9:30 a.m. at the Civic Center Courthouse, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco. The date can change without further notice, so www.LHHSettlement.com is the place to confirm it. TAXES. Settlement payments may be taxable income and a Form 1099 may issue; the City, Class Counsel and the administrators cannot give tax advice.

Last reviewed: September 23, 2026 | Information verified from court records and official settlement documents.

Frequently Asked Questions