Who is a Class Member
Cottage Health Class Action Settlement Class members include “all patients of a Cottage Health hospital (Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital, or Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital) whose confidential information and/or records were placed on the SQL Server maintained by Cottage Health and were accessible between October 26, 2015 and November 8, 2015 without login credentials, passwords, or encryption.”
There are approximately 11.608 members of the Settlement Class.
If you don’t qualify for this settlement, check out our database of other class action settlements you may be eligible for.
Settlement Amount
- $2,050,000.00
Estimated Award
- $116.21
If no one opts out of the Settlement Class, each of the approximately 11,608 Settlement Class Members can receive a check for $116.21. This amount could change depending on the Court’s approval of attorneys’ fees, court costs, administration expenses, incentive awards and the number of Settlement Class Members who opt out.
Proof of Purchase
- N/A
Claim Form
- N/A
Cottage Health Settlement Notes
- Delkener v. Cottage Health System, et al.
- Case No. 30-2016-00847934-CU-NP-CXC
- Pending in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Orange
In February 2017, plaintiff Kari Delkener filed this class action lawsuit against Cottage Health System and its subsidiaries alleging the company unlawfully disclosed medical information for nearly 11,000 patients, violating the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act.
Delkener claims that Cottage Health negligently released the confidential medical records of almost 11,000 patients between October 26, 2015 and November 8, 2015. According to the Cottage Health class action lawsuit, a server containing the medical records was negligently left exposed and available on the internet, and was accessed, copied and indexed by at least two third party search engine companies. The medical records were then left accessible to the public at large.
This was not the first time Cottage Health faced a class action lawsuit over the handling of patients’ confidential medical records. In 2015, just six months prior to Delkener’s complaint, a class action lawsuit was brought against the Cottage health stemming from the hospital’s negligence in permitting its server containing the medical records of over 50,000 patients to be fully available to the internet, where the medical records were indexed by a third party search engine company, and then republished.
Cottage Health denies that any of their actions violated the law and deny any liability but agreed to settle the class action lawsuit to avoid further litigation. Complete details about the case and settlement are provided on the Cottage Health Settlement website.
The Cottage Health class action settlement was granted preliminary approval on November 17, 2017. Class members who wish to object to or exclude themselves from the settlement must do so by February 12, 2018. Class members who wish to receive a settlement payment do not need to do anything.
Important Dates
- 2/12/18: Exclusion or Objection Deadline
- 3/16/18: Final Hearing at 1:30 pm PST* (class members do not need to attend this hearing in order to receive a slice of the settlement pie).
*Settlement Class Members who wish to speak at the hearing should check www.CottageHealthSettlement.com to confirm that the date or time of the Hearing has not been changed.
Contact Information
- Mail: Cottage Health Settlement Administrator, c/o JND Legal Administration, P.O. Box 6878, Broomfield, CO 80021
- Phone: 1-888-551-9753
- Email: info@CottageHealthSettlement.com
Class Counsel
- Don A. Ernst and Taylor Ernst of Ernst Law Group APC
- Brian S. Kabateck and Richard L. Kellner of Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP
Settlement Website