Published
August 18, 2026
This settlement resolves claims that two surgeons at Charleston Area Medical Center in West Virginia performed hiatal hernia repairs that plaintiffs allege were unnecessary, during bariatric surgeries between April 2015 and April 2025. If you had one, a share of a $30,000,000 guaranteed fund reaches you with no claim form — and if the surgery left you with documented complications, a claim filed by December 14, 2026 can pay considerably more.
Current Status
Claims are open, but most class members do not need to file anything. The Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia has granted preliminary approval and authorized notice; no final approval order has been entered, so no payment date has been announced. Every Settlement Class Member who does not opt out receives an equal share of the $30,000,000 Guaranteed Payments Fund automatically, with no claim form. The one filing that exists is optional: a Contingent Payments Fund claim, due December 14, 2026, which can pay more to class members who document specific medical complications. October 13, 2026 is the separate deadline to opt out, to object, or to give notice that you want to speak at the hearing. The Final Fairness Hearing is set for December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. in Charleston, West Virginia.
Status
Claims Open
Preliminarily approved · final fairness hearing December 1, 2026
Claim Deadline
December 14, 2026
Optional Contingent Fund claims only · opt out or object by October 13, 2026
Estimated Payout
Equal share of $30M
Per capita, after fees and awards · or instead a larger Contingent Fund payment from $10M for documented complications · no per-person figure published
Proof Required
Automatic Payment
Nothing to file for the base payment · the larger Contingent Fund payment needs a Claim Form, medical records, and the Claimant ID and Web Access Code from your notice
What Changed Recently?
The parties reached a settlement and the court preliminarily approved it, which is what put the court-authorized notice in the mail and set the October 13, 2026, December 1, 2026 and December 14, 2026 dates. Rust Consulting, Inc. is administering notice, claims and distribution, and the official settlement website is live. West Virginia news outlets reported the $40,000,000 figure in mid-August 2026.The case is barely a year old. The lawsuit was filed in 2025 in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County as L.B. and M.T. v. Robert B. Shin, M.D., and Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc., Civil Action No. 2025-C-541, before the Honorable Maryclaire Akers. The plaintiffs allege that Dr. Robert B. Shin and Dr. Samuel Rossi performed unnecessary hiatal hernia surgeries on patients who were already undergoing bariatric surgery at CAMC's facilities, and they seek damages for medical negligence under the West Virginia Medical Professional Liability Act and for deceptive practices under the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act.
The defendants deny all of it. According to the notice, they maintain that the hiatal hernia repairs performed in connection with bariatric surgery were medically indicated and within the applicable standard of care. The court has not decided in favor of either side and has made no finding that anyone did anything wrong; the notice describes the settlement as the product of extensive negotiation rather than an admission. In a statement reported by WV MetroNews, CAMC said that "while we believe this settlement is the appropriate resolution of a complex and defensible dispute, our focus remains firmly on our patients and the communities we serve."
Who Qualifies?
The class is defined by one specific pairing of procedures, at one hospital system, in one ten-year window. You are a Settlement Class Member if, between April 5, 2015 and April 4, 2025, you underwent bariatric surgery performed by Dr. Robert B. Shin or Dr. Samuel Rossi at a Charleston Area Medical Center facility and had a hiatal hernia repair performed during that same surgery.Three things follow from that definition. A hiatal hernia repair done on its own, at a different time from a bariatric surgery, is outside the class. A bariatric surgery by a different surgeon, or at a different hospital, is outside it as well. And membership does not depend on having been harmed — the base payment is available to every class member without any showing that the surgery caused a complication.
One distinction is worth stating plainly, because news coverage has blurred it. The named defendants are Dr. Shin and CAMC. Dr. Rossi's patients are inside the class definition and are paid on identical terms, but he is not a named defendant in the caption on the court-authorized notice.
West Virginia news outlets have reported that the class could exceed 4,000 people. That is a reported estimate rather than a certified count, and the settlement itself publishes no class size.
How Much Can You Get?
The settlement splits $40,000,000 into two funds that work in opposite directions — one flat and automatic, one variable and earned by documentation. A class member receives from one or the other, not both.- Guaranteed Payments Fund — $30,000,000, divided into an equal per capita share for every Settlement Class Member who does not opt out, after the court-approved attorneys' fees, litigation expenses and incentive awards are subtracted. No claim, no documentation, and no showing of harm is required.
- Contingent Payments Fund — $10,000,000, available instead of the guaranteed share to class members who file a Claim Form and document specific medical complications. Payment amounts vary by complication category and are set out in the settlement agreement.
The claim form sorts complications into four categories, paying the highest single amount a claimant qualifies for rather than stacking them. Category 1 covers a diagnosis plus an intervention — an EGD balloon dilation, a stent placement or removal, a conversion or revision of the bariatric surgery, a repeat hiatal hernia repair, or an emergency room visit — tied to conditions such as new or worsened GERD, esophagitis, esophageal stenosis or strictures, or a recurrent hiatal hernia, and covers one to three inpatient surgeries. Category 2 adds hospital re-admission or re-operation for problems such as a gastric leak or drain infection, internal bleeding, an abscess needing a drain, bowel obstruction, dehydration or malnutrition requiring IV therapy or short-term tube feeding, or an infection needing more than 14 days of IV antibiotics, and covers four to six inpatient surgeries. Category 3 covers seven or more inpatient surgeries or an extraordinary injury — sepsis, wound debridement or a wound vac, tube feeding for a week or longer, Barrett's esophagus, a Schatzki ring, gastroparesis, esophageal adenocarcinoma, or death. Category 4 is a catch-all for complications not listed.
No per-person figure is published, and the amounts behind each category are in the settlement agreement rather than the notice. What can be said about scale is arithmetic. If the class runs to roughly 4,000 people as local reporting has suggested, the $30,000,000 guaranteed fund works out to about $7,500 each before deductions. Class Counsel may ask the court for up to 40 percent of the $40,000,000 recovery as a fee, plus litigation expenses and incentive awards for the two plaintiffs, all of which come out of the funds — so if the court awarded the full 40 percent, the same share would land closer to $4,500. Both figures are OCA arithmetic on a reported class-size estimate, not numbers the settlement publishes, and the court decides the fee at the hearing.
Two mechanics can move an individual payment. Contingent Fund awards may be adjusted on a pro rata basis, so a decided amount is not final until the claims are counted against the $10,000,000. And liens are settled before checks go out: the notice makes liens the class member's own responsibility, but requires that liens held by private insurers and by government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid be identified, resolved and, where they exist, paid or secured through a deduction from the payment before anyone is paid. Taking part means agreeing to the administrator acting as your agent on those liens and to be bound by any global resolution of Medicare or Medicaid liens, which the notice warns can waive individual rights, including the right to seek a waiver, compromise or appeal of a reimbursement claim.
Separately, the notice states that a class member who has filed for bankruptcy protection, or expects to, is responsible for giving any required notice of the settlement to the bankruptcy trustee.
What Proof or Claim Form Is Required?
For the base payment, none. The notice is explicit: to obtain a settlement payment you do not have to do anything, and the guaranteed share is sent automatically if the court approves the settlement and you have not opted out. There is no claim form to file, no identifier to enter, and no proof of harm.The optional Contingent Fund claim is where documentation matters, and it is a real filing. The claim form asks you to check the complication categories that apply, then answer five questions about each complication you identify: whether you had it before the bariatric surgery, whether it has resolved, what medications were prescribed for it, what additional treatment you received and from whom, and what surgeries or procedures followed, with dates. Medical records are required for treatment provided anywhere other than CAMC — records from CAMC itself are supplied to the administrator by the hospital and do not need to be attached. Filing online also requires the Claimant ID and Web Access Code printed on the mailed notice, though the form can be mailed instead.
The review process has its own steps. The administrator checks a timely claim for completeness within 120 days after final approval and, if something is missing, sends written notice giving 30 days to fix it — a claim left uncorrected past that is denied. An initial payment decision follows within 180 days of final approval. A denied or partly approved claim can be sent back for a second review if requested in writing within 21 days, and after that to an Appeal Adjudicator; otherwise the decision is final.
The important protection is that this filing is not a gamble. Under the notice, a class member whose Contingent Fund claim is denied is sent the payment they would otherwise have received from the Guaranteed Payments Fund.
What Are the Deadlines?
- Contingent Payments Fund claim: December 14, 2026. The claim form must be postmarked or filed online by that date, with any required medical records. Missing it does not cost you the guaranteed payment — it only forecloses the larger one.
- Opt-out: October 13, 2026. A signed written Exclusion Request must be postmarked by that date and must name the case, give your full name, current address and telephone number, carry your own signature rather than a lawyer's, state clearly that you are opting out, and state that it applies only to you. A request covering more than one class member is invalid.
- Objection: October 13, 2026. A written objection must be postmarked by then and must include the case name, your contact details and your counsel's if you have one, whether the objection is yours alone or applies to the whole class, the specific grounds, and whether you intend to appear at the hearing. An objection lacking that information or postmarked late will not be considered.
- Notice of Intent to Appear: October 13, 2026. Speaking at the hearing takes both a timely written objection and a separately mailed letter saying you want to speak. Doing only one of the two forfeits the chance.
- Final Fairness Hearing: December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m., at the Kanawha County Judicial Building in Charleston, West Virginia. Attendance is not required to be paid, and the notice warns the date and time may change, in which case the settlement website carries the new one.
Excluding yourself is the only route that keeps your right to sue the defendants separately over these claims, and it costs you every benefit of the settlement — there is no partial version. Objecting is the opposite: you stay in the class, keep your payment, and tell the court what you dislike. You cannot do both, and the notice adds one collective caveat: if more than a specified percentage of class members opt out, the defendants may decide not to go forward with the settlement at all. The notice does not disclose that percentage.
How Do You Take Action?
If your notice arrived and your address is current, the honest answer for most class members is that there is nothing to do. Confirm the settlement administrator has your current mailing address, and wait — the guaranteed payment comes by mail after the court approves the settlement.If the surgery led to complications, the decision worth making before December 14, 2026 is whether to file the Contingent Fund claim. Start by gathering records of treatment you received outside CAMC, since those must be attached, and by locating the Claimant ID and Web Access Code on your notice if you plan to file online. The claim form and the upload page are on the official settlement website at CAMC Bariatric Settlement.com, which also carries the notice, the settlement documents and the current hearing date, and the form can be mailed instead. Keep a copy of anything you send.
Exclusion requests, objections and notices of intent to appear all go to the settlement administrator in writing by October 13, 2026, following the content requirements listed above. If you are not certain whether you are in the class, the settlement website's contact page is the place to ask — the notice asks class members not to contact the judge, the court, the defendants or defense counsel.
One caution that applies to any settlement paying this much per person: the site run by the court-appointed administrator is the only authorized one for this case, and a legitimate administrator does not charge a fee to release a payment or ask for a banking password. If a message about this settlement reaches you out of the blue, go to the official site directly rather than following the link.
What Happens Next?
The next milestone is the Final Fairness Hearing on December 1, 2026, where the court will decide whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, will hear any objections and any class members who followed both steps to speak, and will rule on attorneys' fees, litigation expenses and the incentive awards. Class Counsel's fee request is to be filed before the hearing and posted on the settlement website.If the court approves the settlement, the notice puts Guaranteed Fund payments in the mail roughly 30 to 45 days later — it gives 30 days in one answer and about 45 in another, so treat it as approximately a month to six weeks rather than a fixed date. Contingent Fund payments take substantially longer, because each claim runs through the completeness check, the initial decision and any review or appeal before it is paid; the notice says additional timing information will be provided after the claims period closes.
The notice also flags the ordinary caveat that approval can be followed by appeals, with no guarantee of how they resolve or how long they take. We will update this page when the court rules or a payment schedule is announced.
Sources and Verification
- Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement authorized by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, including its 27 numbered questions and the summary of legal rights and deadlines (embedded below).
- Contingent Payments Fund Claim Form issued with the notice, including the complication categories in Section B and the claim review, deficiency and appeal procedures.
- Official settlement website — CAMC Bariatric Settlement.com, including its FAQ, Documents, Important Dates and Claim Upload pages, last updated August 5, 2026.
- Case file in L.B. and M.T. v. Robert B. Shin, M.D., and Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc., Civil Action No. 2025-C-541, Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, before the Honorable Maryclaire Akers.
- Reporting on the settlement announcement and the reported class size: WV MetroNews and WSAZ.
Questions
I had this surgery at CAMC but never received a notice. Am I still in the class?
Class membership is defined by the surgery, not by the mail. If you received a hiatal hernia repair during a bariatric surgery performed by Dr. Robert B. Shin or Dr. Samuel Rossi at a CAMC facility between April 5, 2015 and April 4, 2025, you are a Settlement Class Member whether or not a notice packet reached you. The notice went to the addresses in CAMC's records, so a move, a name change or a bad address is the usual reason one does not arrive. The settlement website's contact page is the place to sort that out, and it matters for a second reason: a Contingent Fund claim filed online needs the Claimant ID and Web Access Code that are printed on the mailed notice.
Is there any risk in filing a Contingent Fund claim instead of taking the automatic payment?
Under the notice, a denied Contingent Fund claim does not cost you the base payment. It states that if a Settlement Class Member's Contingent Fund claim is denied, that person is sent the payment they would otherwise have received from the Guaranteed Payments Fund. What filing does change is timing and effort: the Guaranteed Fund payments go out roughly 30 to 45 days after final approval, while Contingent Fund claims are reviewed within 120 days of final approval for completeness and decided within 180 days, with review and appeal steps after that, so a claim can take several months longer to resolve.
Why is Dr. Rossi named in the class definition but not as a defendant?
They are two different things. The case caption on the court-authorized notice names two defendants: Robert B. Shin, M.D., and Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc. The class definition is broader than the caption because it describes whose patients are covered, and it takes in everyone who received a hiatal hernia repair during bariatric surgery from either Dr. Shin or Dr. Samuel Rossi at a CAMC facility in the class period. So a patient of Dr. Rossi is a Settlement Class Member and is paid on the same terms as a patient of Dr. Shin, even though Dr. Rossi is not a named defendant in the caption. Both physicians deny the allegations through the Defendants' response, and no court has found either of them liable.
Can Medicare or Medicaid take part of my settlement payment?
The settlement is built to deal with that before checks go out. The notice says liens on a class member's payment are that person's own responsibility, but that liens held by private insurers and government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid must be identified, resolved and, where they exist, paid or secured through a deduction or withholding from the payment before the Settlement Administrator pays anyone. The administrator is authorized to act as the class member's agent in finding and resolving those liens, and taking part in the settlement means agreeing to be bound by any global resolution of Medicare or Medicaid liens — which the notice warns can waive individual rights, including the right to seek a waiver, compromise or appeal of a reimbursement claim.
When will the money actually arrive?
No payment date exists yet, because nothing is paid until the court grants final approval. The Final Fairness Hearing is set for December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. in Charleston, West Virginia. If the court approves the settlement, the notice puts Guaranteed Fund payments in the mail roughly 30 to 45 days after final approval — it gives 30 days in one answer and about 45 in another — and says Contingent Fund payments take several months longer because each claim has to be reviewed and decided. The notice also cautions that approval can be followed by appeals, with no guarantee of how long that would take.
Official Settlement Notice
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Settlement Amount
$40,000,000
$30,000,000 Guaranteed Payments Fund + $10,000,000 Contingent Payments Fund
Case Title
L.B. and M.T. v. Robert B. Shin, M.D., and Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc.
Case Number
2025-C-541
Court
Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia
Final Approval Hearing
December 1, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Kanawha County Judicial Building, Charleston, West Virginia — Hon. Maryclaire Akers
Administrator
Rust Consulting, Inc.
Official Website
CAMC Bariatric Settlement.com
