If you received a Notice of this Settlement, you have been identified as being part of a group of people whose protected health information (“PHI”), including their HIV status, is alleged to have been disclosed or received without your authorization or consent by certain Defendants as part of CDPH’s administration of the ADAP and OA-HIPP programs. Individuals who were enrolled in CDPH’s ADAP and OA-HIPP programs by Thrive Tribe prior to June 2019 might have been affected.

As a result of the alleged disclosure, the Plaintiff filed suit against CDPH and its director Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, Thrive Tribe, Evolve Healthcare, Gary “Julian” Goldstein, and Premier Pharmacy. The lawsuit is John Doe v. California Department of Public Health et al., No. 20STCV32364, and was filed in the Superior Court of California for Los Angeles County (the “Lawsuit”). In the Lawsuit, Plaintiff alleges that ADAP and OA-HIPP participants’ PHI was improperly disclosed. Defendants dispute that they have done anything wrong and believe that they have complied with all applicable laws. The Court has not decided which side is right.

The Settlement resolves the Lawsuit as to all Defendants. Adherence Project, which was named in the initial Complaint as a defendant, is a non-profit entity that has confirmed under penalty of perjury that it is not in possession of any of the data in question and does not have any assets or insurance. Adherence Project has been dismissed as a defendant and is not part of the Settlement.

The Settlement has been preliminarily approved by the Superior Court of the State of California for Los Angeles County (the “Court”), which is the Court overseeing the Lawsuit. The Notice of Settlement provides information about the Lawsuit, the Settlement, and your options as a Settlement Class Member. Please read the Notice carefully because it affects your legal rights. The Court authorized sending the Notice of Settlement to Class Members. The Notice is not a solicitation from a lawyer.

You received the Notice of Settlement because CDPH’s records show that your information was part of the alleged unauthorized disclosure. As a result, you are a member of the Settlement Class. Members of the Settlement Class are referred to as Settlement Class Members. Your rights are affected by the Settlement, so you should carefully read the Notice of Settlement that was mailed to you.

The Plaintiff in the Lawsuit alleged that Settlement Class Members’ PHI was disclosed by a former employee of Thrive Tribe to Evolve Healthcare, Gary “Julian” Goldstein, and Premier Pharmacy.

Adherence Project, which was named in the initial Complaint as a defendant, is a non-profit entity that has confirmed under penalty of perjury that it is not in possession of any of the data in question and does not have any assets or insurance. Adherence Project has been dismissed as a defendant and is not part of the Settlement.

Following an extensive mediation process overseen by two mediators, Plaintiff and Defendants CDPH, Thrive Tribe, Evolve Healthcare, Gary “Julian” Goldstein, and Premier Pharmacy have reached a settlement that has been preliminarily approved by the Court overseeing the Lawsuit. All Settlement Class Members who do not opt out of this settlement using the procedures described below shall automatically receive the estimated Settlement Payment of $1,820. Settlement Class Members do not need to submit a claim form to receive payment.

Important: If you did not receive the Notice of Settlement in the mail and you believe you are a Settlement Class Member, you MUST contact the Settlement Administrator ("JND Legal Administration") to determine if you are entitled to receive any benefits under this Settlement.

The Court held the Final Approval Hearing on August 25, 2023 at 10:00am, at the Superior Court of California for Los Angeles County, Spring Street Courthouse, Department 7, 312 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012. The purpose of the hearing was for the Court to determine whether to approve the Settlement as fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Class; to consider the Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and expenses; and to consider the request for an incentive award to the Class Representative. At that hearing, the Court was available to hear any objections and arguments concerning the fairness of the Settlement. 

In a class action, one or more people called representative plaintiffs or class representatives sue on behalf of all people who have similar claims. Together, all of these people are called a class and the individuals are called class members. One court resolves the issues for all class members, except for those who exclude themselves (opt out) from the class. Here, in this Settlement, the Plaintiff is the Class Representative, and this Settlement resolves the claims of all Settlement Class Members who do not opt out of the Settlement against the Defendants. Details about the Settlement, including the Settlement benefits as well as what Settlement Class Members are giving up in this Settlement, are set forth in the Notice of Settlement and in the Settlement Agreement, a copy of which is available on the "Important Documents" page.

The Court did not issue a ruling in favor of the Plaintiff or Defendants. Rather, both sides, with the assistance of two mediators, agreed to a settlement. The Settlement is not an admission that Defendants did something wrong, but rather is a compromise to end the lawsuit. By agreeing to settle, both sides avoid the cost and risk of a trial, and allow Settlement Class Members who do not opt out to receive compensation. The Class Representative and his attorneys believe the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and, thus, best for the Settlement Class.

You are included in the Settlement if your information was part of the ADAP or OA-HIPP disclosure. Information about the disclosure is set forth above in Question 1.

Under the terms of the Settlement, a copy of which is available on the "Important Documents" page, Defendants have agreed to pay the total cash amount of $1,600,000 (the “Settlement Fund”) to settle all claims arising out of or relating to the alleged disclosure of PHI (and other sensitive health-related information), and/or the facts and allegations in the Amended Complaint filed in the Action. The combined value of the Settlement Fund and non-monetary relief summarized below is estimated to be $3,900,000. None of this money will be returned to Defendants. For a detailed description of the claims that Settlement Class Members are releasing, please see Question 6.

The Settlement Fund will be used to pay: (a) the Settlement Payments to all Settlement Class Members; (b) all settlement administration fees and costs that exceed a Settlement Administration Cap of $40,000 as approved by the Court; (c) Plaintiff’s counsel’s Attorneys’ Fees and Costs approved by the Court; and (d) any Class Representative Payment approved by the Court. The “Net Settlement Fund” is the amount left in the Settlement Fund after the Court-approved deductions for settlement administrator fees and costs that exceed the Settlement Administration Cap, Attorneys’ Fees and Costs, and Class Representative Payment.

1. Settlement Payment: All Settlement Class Members who do not opt out will automatically receive an estimated payment of $1,750 without having to submit a claim form. In other words, you do not need to do anything to automatically receive this amount. The final amount of the Settlement Payment that Settlement Class Members will receive depends on the number of Settlement Class Members that opt-out of the Settlement, the number of undeliverable Notices of Settlement, the amount of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs approved by the Court and the amount of the Class Representative Payment approved by the Court, as well as whether there are additional administration costs that exceed the Settlement Administration Cap as approved by the Court. Because these payments and the number of Settlement Class Members who opt-out and the number undeliverable Notices will not be known until the Settlement is complete, the final amount of the Settlement Payment may be lower or higher than the estimated payment. The Settlement Payment will be mailed in the form of a check or checks. You will not receive a Settlement Payment if you opt-out of the Settlement Class or if your Notice of Settlement is returned as undeliverable.
    
2. Remaining Funds/Uncashed Checks. If there is money remaining in the Net Settlement Fund after deducting the Settlement Payments for all Settlement Class Members, Attorneys’ Fees and Costs, the Class Representative Payment, and settlement administration costs in excess of the Settlement Administration Cap, and the passing of the deadline for negotiating all Settlement checks, then the remaining money shall be distributed to a cy pres entity, AIDS Project Los Angeles also known as APLA Health.
    

In addition to the Settlement Payment, Thrive Tribe agrees to take the following actions:

1. Thrive Tribe shall destroy any computer hard drives and other storage devices of any kind that may contain any confidential information relating to Settlement Class Members. The data that must be destroyed includes any private, personal, and medical information (excluding name, address, or other contact information) of any individuals who Thrive Tribe enrolled in the ADAP and OA-HIPP programs prior to June 2019.
    
2. Thrive Tribe shall permanently delete any confidential or other information relating to Settlement Class Members stored in the cloud or on servers.
    
3. Thrive Tribe shall destroy any hard copies of any information that contain any confidential or other identifying information for all Settlement Class Members.
    
4. A representative of Thrive Tribe further agrees to provide an affidavit under penalty of perjury that Thrive Tribe complied with these requirements. CDPH shall have the right, at its sole discretion, to decide whether to audit the veracity of the affidavit by completing a site inspection of all computer systems, storage devices, and/or cloud storage and/or servers within thirty (30) days of receiving the affidavit.
    

Premier Pharmacy agrees to take the following actions:

1. Based on a reasonable search and investigation of its data environment, Premier represents that to the extent Premier’s environment contains a Settlement Class Member’s Protected Health Information and/or Confidential HIV-related Information, such information can be electronically stored only (1) on Premier’s servers (and those servers can be accessed and searched, in full, by the DocuTrak system), (2) within Premier’s email system, or (3) on an individual user’s computer (and those individual computers can be searched, in full, on the OneDrive system). Premier further represents that any such information stored on its servers can, and already has been searched by CDPH using Premier’s DocuTrak system. To the extent any such information is stored within Premier’s email system or OneDrive system, Premier represents that such information can be searched using the eDiscovery tool found within the Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal. Premier will allow and assist CDPH’s usage of Premier’s Purview Compliance Portal to detect any readily evident Settlement Class Member’s Protected Health Information and/or Confidential HIV-related Information. CDPH’s effort is limited to use of the Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal and only to the extent reasonable under the circumstance to detect undeleted information.
    
2. Have the Settlement Administrator ("JND Legal Administration") provide any Settlement Class Member whom CDPH identifies (pursuant to the preceding paragraph) as possibly having been entered (1) in any Premier server (as identified by the DocuTrak system), email system, or an individual user’s computer (as identified by the OneDrive system) for the first time after April 1, 2019 (in addition to the 125 Settlement Class Members whom CDPH previously identified), and (2) who do not opt out of the Settlement the opportunity to render inactive and subsequently delete his, her or their name and any Protected Health Information and/or Confidential HIV-related Information. CDPH and Premier will work in good faith to complete the review of Premier’s email system and OneDrive system in a timely manner.
   
   Premier Pharmacy is required to retain certain data pursuant to state law, federal law, and provider contracts. If state law, federal law, or a provider contract prohibits Premier from immediately deleting the Class Members’ data, then Premier will (1) render that Class Members’ data inactive in a manner agreed to by Premier, Co-Lead Class Counsel, and CDPH (or as directed by the Court if agreement cannot be reached), and (2) not use, sell, convey or transfer that data in any way except as required by state law, federal law, or provider contract. Premier Pharmacy will permanently delete all data pertaining to Settlement Class Members as soon as it may do so.
    
3. A representative of Premier further agrees to provide Co-Lead Class Counsel an affidavit under penalty of perjury that these obligations have been complied with within 30 calendar days of the Effective Date. If any data must be rendered inactive and retained as noted above, Premier will provide an additional affidavit under penalty of perjury within 30 calendar days after permanently deleting any previously inactive and retained data. CDPH shall have the right, at its sole discretion, to decide whether to audit the veracity of either affidavit by completing a further inspection of Premiers servers, OneDrive system, and/or email system within thirty (30) calendar days of receiving the affidavit(s).
   
   The Settlement Administrator ("JND Legal Administration') will mail you a form that you must complete and return to inform Premier of your decision about your data.
    

Evolve Healthcare and Gary “Julian” Goldstein agree to take the following actions:

1. Participate in a review of the hard drive of a laptop computer, which Evolve Healthcare and Gary “Julian” Goldstein represent is the only potential location of stored files in their possession, custody or control, to be conducted by CDPH Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) personnel who will forensically preview and perform a keyword search of Settlement Class Member names for any readily evident Settlement Class Member’s PHI and/or Confidential HIV-related Information. CDPH ITSD will perform this function using Opentext Encase Digital Forensic Software while utilizing Tableau hardware write blockers to image the hard drive in its original state and determine if that laptop contains any readily evident Settlement Class Member’s Protected Health Information and/or Confidential HIV-related Information. CDPH, Evolve Healthcare, and Gary “Julian” Goldstein will work in good faith to complete the review of Evolve Healthcare and Gary “Julian” Goldstein’s laptop computer in a timely manner. CDPH ITSD may need, and is entitled to, up to five business days’ possession of the hard drive. Any image or copy of the hard drive will be kept strictly confidential, used for the sole purpose of the objective set forth in this section, and either returned to Goldstein or destroyed by CDPH once the objective is completed.
    
2. Have the Settlement Administrator ("JND Legal Administration") provide any Settlement Class Member whom CDPH identifies (pursuant to the preceding paragraph) as having possibly been (1) entered on that laptop computer for the first time on or after April 1, 2019, and (2) who do not opt out of the Settlement, the opportunity to remove his, her or their name and/or any PHI and/or Confidential HIV-related Information from the laptop computer.
    
3. Evolve Healthcare and Gary “Julian” Goldstein further agree to provide Co-Lead Class Counsel an affidavit under penalty of perjury that these obligations have been complied with within 30 calendar days of the Effective Date. CDPH shall have the right, at its sole discretion, to decide whether to audit the veracity of the affidavit by completing a further inspection of the laptop within thirty (30) calendar days of receiving the affidavit.
   
   The Settlement Administrator ("JND Legal Administration") will mail you a form that you must complete and return to inform Evolve Healthcare and Gary “Julian” Goldstein of your decision about your data.

In order to obtain your Settlement benefits you will give up the right to sue the Defendants for any claims related to the unauthorized disclosure described in response to Question 1.

The full release in Section 7.1 of the Settlement Agreement provides:

In consideration of the benefits provided to Settlement Class Members as described in the Settlement Agreement, upon the Effective Date, Plaintiff and each Settlement Class Member who does not opt out of the Settlement, on their own behalf and on behalf of their respective predecessors, successors, assigns, assignors, representatives, attorneys, agents, trustees, insurers, heirs, estates, beneficiaries, executors, administrators, and any natural, legal, or juridical person or entity to the extent he, she, they or it is or will be entitled to assert any claim on behalf of any Settlement Class Member (collectively, the “Releasors”), shall automatically be deemed to have, and by operation of the Final Approval Order shall have, completely, fully, finally, irrevocably, and forever released, relinquished, and discharged the Released Parties, and each of them, of and from any and all liabilities, rights, claims, actions, causes of action, demands, damages, penalties, costs, attorneys’ fees, losses, and remedies, existing or potential, suspected or unsuspected, liquidated or unliquidated, legal, statutory, or equitable, that are based on the facts alleged in the Amended Complaint (collectively, the “Released Claims”).

You will automatically receive a Settlement Payment of approximately $1,820 if you are a Settlement Class Member. You did not need to file a claim. Settlement Payments were mailed in the form of a check on December 14, 2023, to each Settlement Class Member who did not opt-out of the Settlement Class and whose Notice of Settlement was not returned as undeliverable.

Important - If the Notice of Settlement was not sent to you in the mail and you believe you are a Settlement Class Member, you MUST contact the Settlement Administrator ("JND Legal Administration") to receive any benefits under this Settlement, including the estimated Settlement Payment. It is also your responsibility to let the Settlement Administrator know if your mailing address changes at any time before you receive a Settlement Payment or if you want future mail sent to a different mailing address. If you fail to keep your address current, you may not receive your benefits under the Settlement.

Payments were issued to eligible Class Members on December 14, 2023. All Settlement Checks are mailed via USPS First Class Mail. Please allow up to two weeks for your check to arrive.

If you wished to exclude yourself from the Settlement (also known as “opting out” of the Settlement) so that you did not receive any Settlement benefits and are not bound by any releases in the Settlement, then you must have submitted a written request to opt out to the Settlement Administrator. The full Settlement Agreement with the specific details about opting out from the Settlement is available on the “Important Documents” page of this website.

If you wished to remain in the Settlement and accept the Settlement’s benefits but submit an objection to the Settlement, you must have submitted a written objection to the Settlement Administrator. The full Settlement Agreement with the specific details about objecting to the Settlement is available on the “Important Documents” page of this website.

No. The Settling Defendants agree that they shall not retaliate against Plaintiff or any Settlement Class Member in any fashion for having participated in this Lawsuit and/or Settlement Agreement.

The attorneys who represent the Settlement Class are listed below:

You do not have to pay the attorneys who represent the Settlement Class. The Settlement Agreement provides that Co-Lead Class Counsel’s Attorneys’ Fees and Costs will be paid subject to the approval of the Court. The attorneys’ request for fees will not exceed $750,000 plus reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket costs not to exceed $13,000.

The Plaintiff who initiated this lawsuit as “John Doe” will request the Court approve a Class Representative Payment of up to $10,000 for his willingness to be the Plaintiff in this action and for his services to the class. The Class Representative Payment is subject to Court approval. Co-Lead Class Counsel contend this payment is justified and reasonable due to Plaintiff’s significant assistance to Co-Lead Class Counsel and because Plaintiff’s participation in the Lawsuit risked public disclosure of his HIV-positive status.

You will receive a Settlement Payment of approximately $1,820 if you are a Settlement Class Member. By doing nothing, you are choosing to stay in the Settlement and you are entitled to the monetary and nonmonetary benefits described in the Notice of Settlement. You will also give up the right to sue Defendants on your own about the legal claims resolved by the Settlement as described in this Notice and in the Settlement Agreement.

The Settlement Administrator ("JND Legal Administration"), the Defendants and Co-Lead Class Counsel cannot provide tax advice as to how to treat this payment. However, 50% of the Settlement Payment shall be deemed payment for all claims of negligence Settlement Class Members may have, and 50% shall be deemed payment for all claims for statutory damages under the laws set forth in the Amended Complaint.

Before you cash your Settlement Payment check you should contact your ADAP Enrollment Worker to confirm that the Settlement Payment will not cause you to exceed the income eligibility limits for the ADAP and OA-HIPP programs. If you elect not to cash your Settlement Payment check that money will go to the cy pres entity—AIDS Project Los Angeles—as noted in the response to Question 5.

If you need more information or have any questions, you may contact the Settlement Administrator ("JND Legal Administration") or counsel for Plaintiff using the contact information provided in response to Question 10 and Question 12. The Notice of Settlement only summarizes the Lawsuit, the Settlement and related matters. For more information, you may also download the Settlement Agreement, Amended Complaint and other documents and find additional information about this case and the Settlement available on the "Important Documents" page.