Aurora Signature Whistleblower Suit

Case Name: Teresa Brooke v. Aurora Behavioral Healthcare—Santa Rosa, LLC, et al.

Filed in: Superior Court of the State of California, County of Sonoma

Docket: [Case No.: A-19-805733-F]

Case Summary

In September 2021, after more than three years of litigation, attorneys at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and Valerian Law announced they reached a landmark Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) settlement on behalf of a former nursing leader at a North Bay acute psychiatric hospital.

The Superior Court of California approved the settlement, including a Gross Settlement Fund of $2,850,000. The State of California will receive $2,046,750 from the settlement, while $682,250 will be distributed to hospital staff, based on formulas mandated by the PAGA statute.

The court-approved settlement also includes various additional programmatic measures agreed to by the parties, including notice to employees that they will not face repercussions for speaking up regarding unsafe or unlawful practices.

Additionally, the settlement allows the parties to jointly retain an outside expert to evaluate the hospital’s policies, practices, and procedures, as well as make recommendations for any changes deemed necessary to improve working conditions for front-line staff who care for acute patients.

Filed in 2018, Brooke v. Aurora Behavioral Healthcare-Santa Rosa, LLC et al. alleged that understaffing and related issues caused pervasive Cal-OSHA violations at a Santa Rosa behavioral healthcare hospital operated by Signature Healthcare Services, LLC. Using PAGA, the lawsuit sought to recover Labor Code penalties on behalf of the State of California for unlawful working conditions experienced by nurses and other hospital staff.