Center

In this class action, defendant Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center (the Center) petitions this court to order the trial court to set aside a class notice that provides for opt-out notice to patients of the Center who mistakenly received from the Center the wrong medication for syphilis. The Center argues that in order to protect the privacy rights of these unnamed class members, and due to the physician-patient privilege, the class should be opt-in because such a mechanism would protect those rights—only those patients who agreed to opt in would be subject to disclosure and discovery of their names, medical records and condition. The Center also contends the trial court’s subsequently entered protective order insufficiently protects the patients’ privacy rights.

We conclude that the trial court did not err in establishing an opt-out class, but that it erred in ordering the Center to disclose the class members’ names and addresses to plaintiffs’ counsel. We therefore grant the petition in part and deny in part.

*293 FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

1. Background Facts

(a) Treatment of Class Members for Syphilis

The Center is a nonprofit organization that…