Californians whose private medical data was shared without their consent are now collecting $68.81 payments from a $21.5 million Sutter Health settlement — while the attorneys who cut the deal walk away with millions.
That is the class-action business model in a nutshell: the institution that allegedly compromised your data denies wrongdoing, the lawyers take their cut off the top, and you get enough to fill your gas tank once. Sutter Health serves roughly 3.6 million people. The pool of Californians whose information was at stake was enormous. The payout per person was not.
The settlement stems from a lawsuit accusing Sutter Health of sharing patients' personal information without consent. Sutter Health denied any wrongdoing but agreed to pay $21.5 million to make the case go away, the New York Post reported. Anyone who logged into the Sutter Health MyHealthOnline patient portal between June 10, 2015, and March 20, 2020, was eligible to submit a claim. The deadline to file has already passed — so if you didn't know about it, you're out of luck.
Settlement administrators initially projected payments could reach as much as $90 per person. But the final payout dropped to $68.81 after a large number of eligible claims were submitted. In a typical class-action settlement, attorneys collect 25 to 40 percent of the total fund before a single dollar reaches the people actually harmed. On a $21.5 million deal, that means somewhere between $5 million and $8 million likely went to the legal team. You get Venmo'd $68. They bill by the hour.
The pattern repeats wherever settlement money flows. In Louisiana, opioid settlement payouts meant to address the addiction crisis are being funneled to sheriffs with virtually no accountability, STAT reported. Louisiana is the only state directing 20 percent of its opioid settlement funds to sheriffs — the largest law enforcement carve-out in the nation. Sheriffs there are not required to proactively report how they spend the cash.
A review panel assembled by KFF Health News and partner newsrooms found that 66 percent of reported sheriff spending — $5.4 million out of $8.1 million — was inappropriate, including overtime for homicide detectives and officers conducting jail shakedowns. Twenty sheriffs simply refused to disclose their expenditures, leaving roughly $10.7 million hidden from the public. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, allotted nearly $4 million, did not respond to more than a dozen calls and emails.
Two states, two settlements, same result: the people who were actually harmed get scraps or silence, while the powerful — lawyers, sheriffs, institutions — pocket the real money and answer to no one. Sutter Health gets to deny wrongdoing. Louisiana sheriffs get to stonewall. The class-action bar gets paid. And the working American gets a check that wouldn't cover a co-pay.
