On July 14, 2026, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval of a $2,470,000 settlement of contempt fines against California Medical Group, Inc. (“CFMG”). This settlement resolves years of litigation about noncompliance with court orders by CFMG, the company that provided health care services at the Monterey County Jail for decades until its contract was terminated in December 2025. The settlement ensures that the money CFMG was forced to pay for its contempt will go directly to the class members who were harmed by CFMG’s noncompliance with the court’s orders. The case is Hernandez v. County of Monterey, N.D. Cal. No. 13-cv-02354-BLF. The court’s order is here.
In 2013, RBGG and co-counsel sued the County of Monterey and its for-profit medical provider, CFMG, challenging dangerous and unconstitutional conditions in the County’s Jail. The case settled in 2015 and the Court approved remedial Implementation Plans in 2016.
In May 2023, RBGG moved to enforce the Settlement Agreement and CFMG Implementation Plan in the case, seeking contempt fines against CFMG for its noncompliance with the court’s orders. On September 26, 2023, the court granted Plaintiffs’ Motion to Enforce the Settlement Agreement and Implementation Plan, finding CFMG out of compliance with 43 remedial requirements related to medical, mental health, and dental care. Judge Beth Labson Freeman found CFMG’s request to deny Plaintiffs’ Enforcement Motion “not only frivolous, but also offensive,” and concluded that CFMG’s “continued failure to comply with its obligations … creates a serious risk of harm to the health and well-being of the entire inmate population of the Jail.” The court’s order is here.
The Court ordered CFMG to come into compliance within six months or face a $25,000 fine per requirement, to be reassessed every six months. CFMG ultimately conceded that it could not show compliance, and the parties agreed to settle CFMG’s contempt fines for a total of $2,470,000.
The settlement approved by the court directs that the money from CFMG’s contempt fines will be distributed to people who were incarcerated at the Monterey County Jail from the date that the CFMG Implementation Plan went into effect in 2016 to the date that CFMG’s contract ended in December 2025. As Judge Freeman wrote in the July 2026 order, “current and former inmates of the Jail ‘are entitled to the benefits of the contempt fines issued by the Court.’” These individuals “suffered actual losses as a result of CFMG’s failure to comply with the Settlement Agreement and the CFMG Implementation Plan.”
RBGG worked closely with the court-approved settlement administrator, Kroll Settlement Administration, LLC, to ensure that the settlement funds were distributed to the settlement class. Hundreds of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people wrote to the court to express their views on the settlement and their preference for direct distribution of the settlement money to individuals who were incarcerated during CFMG’s tenure at the Jail. Approximately 2,000 people submitted valid claims to the settlement administrator and will receive awards ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars.