Houston Methodist MyChart Lawsuit: The Pixel Case Lost, No Settlement
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AI Legal Assistant · free · answers in seconds · general information, not legal advice
There was a Houston Methodist lawsuit over Meta Pixel tracking — and the hospital won it. On September 22, 2025, a federal judge in Houston granted summary judgment to Houston Methodist and entered final judgment, before any class was certified. The court also found the Pixel was on the public website, not inside Houston Methodist MyChart. As of October 6, 2026 there is no settlement, no fund, no claim form and no deadline.
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Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
What the Lawsuit Claimed
Two patients, Edward Sweat and Marie Garza Sweat, sued on behalf of people who searched for or obtained care through Houston Methodist’s website or patient portal. The complaint alleged that until 2022 a Facebook tracking pixel was embedded in the public website and the private patient portal, and that it passed details to Facebook that could reveal conditions such as pregnancy, dementia or HIV and link them to a person’s Facebook profile.
They pleaded invasion of privacy, unjust enrichment and a violation of the federal Wiretap Act. Those were allegations; the court later tested them against the evidence.
What the record showed: Houston Methodist used the Pixel through its advertising agencies to measure campaigns and received aggregated reports that did not identify individuals. After a reporter from The Markup asked about it on May 18, 2022, the hospital removed the Pixel from its website just before The Markup’s article ran on June 16, 2022. The court found that Houston Methodist did not embed the Pixel within MyChart.
Case Details
Sweat v. Houston Methodist Hospital, Civil Action No. 4:24-cv-00775, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, before Senior Judge Lee H. Rosenthal. The case was filed in 2024 in state court and removed to federal court by Houston Methodist.
On June 20, 2024 the court dismissed the invasion-of-privacy claim with prejudice and let the Wiretap Act and unjust-enrichment claims go forward. On February 19, 2025 it split discovery so liability would be decided before any class question. On September 22, 2025 it granted summary judgment to Houston Methodist and entered final judgment (opinions on GovInfo).
Status: Dismissed, Nothing to Claim
We could not confirm whether an appeal was filed. There is no settlement, no fund, no administrator, no claim form and no deadline.
Other Houston Methodist data breach reports. In January 2026 DataBreaches.net reported that Lena Health, an AI care-coordination vendor described as a Houston Methodist business associate, left records of 2,134 patients in an unprotected cloud storage bucket. We found no notice letters, no lawsuit and no settlement for that incident as of October 6, 2026.
Are You Affected?
For tracking: no one is in a class. No class was ever certified, and the case ended in Houston Methodist’s favor. Using the website or Houston Methodist MyChart does not make you eligible for any payment today.
Was MyChart involved? The complaint alleged the portal was tracked; the court’s summary-judgment opinion found the Pixel was not embedded in MyChart. The website was the issue, and it was removed in June 2022.
Watch the name. The $425,000 Methodist Hospitals settlement you may see online involves The Methodist Hospitals, Inc. of Gary, Indiana — a different hospital system — and a 2019 email breach. It is not a Houston Methodist settlement.
Our form on this page asks whether you used the website or MyChart, what you did there and when you last did. That helps us see whether a new case would cover you; it is not a claim.
What This Case Pays: Nothing
Other hospitals’ pixel cases went differently. Wellstar agreed to a $4.25 million MyChart pixel settlement covering about 870,000 people (our report). See which hospital tracking settlements still take claims and run the MyChart settlement calculator for a realistic per-person range. If a vendor breach involving your records ever settles, the data breach settlement calculator shows typical payouts.
How cases like this one end
Our copy of the federal courts’ own case database covers 80,165 other statutory actions casesclosed in U.S. federal district courts between 2015 and 2025, 11.8% of them filed as class actions:
- 26% ended in a settlement recorded by the court. Another 22.4% were dismissed voluntarily, which often follows a private settlement — so the real settlement share sits between 26% and 48.4%.
- 7.4% were decided on a motion before any trial.
- 1 in 155 reached a trial (0.6%), after a median of 22 months.
- Median time from filing to the end of the case: 5 months.
- Only 1,717 of them (2.1%) record a money award at all; the median of those is $195,000.
These are base rates for this type of case (federal other statutory actions cases) — not a prediction about this lawsuit, and not legal advice. Source: Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (civil), analysed by Settlement Insight. Cases heard in state courts are not included.
Houston Methodist Lawsuit Timeline
- 1
June 16, 2022 — Pixel Removed
After The Markup asked about it on May 18, 2022, Houston Methodist removes the Meta Pixel from its website just before the article runs.
- 2
2024 — Class Action Filed
Edward and Marie Garza Sweat sue over the Pixel; Houston Methodist removes the case to federal court in Houston as No. 4:24-cv-00775.
- 3
June 20, 2024 — Privacy Claim Dismissed
Judge Rosenthal dismisses the invasion-of-privacy claim with prejudice but lets the Wiretap Act claim proceed to discovery.
- 4
February 19, 2025 — Liability First
The court splits discovery so the liability question is decided before any class certification fight.
- 5
September 22, 2025 — Hospital Wins
Summary judgment for Houston Methodist on the Wiretap Act claim; final judgment entered. No class was ever certified.
- 6
January 2026 — Vendor Breach Reported
DataBreaches.net reports exposed records of 2,134 patients at Lena Health, a Houston Methodist vendor. No lawsuit found as of October 2026.
Three Things to Watch For
A lost case and a look-alike hospital name are an easy setup for confusion:
“Houston Methodist settlement” claim pages
There is no Houston Methodist pixel settlement to claim from. A site asking for your MyChart login, date of birth or Social Security number to “check eligibility” is collecting data, not filing anything.
The Indiana Methodist mix-up
Notices and articles about The Methodist Hospitals, Inc. settlements concern a Gary, Indiana system. Being a Houston Methodist patient does not make you a member of those classes.
Calls about the Lena Health leak
Exposed phone numbers and visit details make convincing scripts. Houston Methodist will not phone to ask for your MyChart password or a payment to “secure” your records — hang up and call the number on your bill.
Houston Methodist Lawsuit — Questions People Ask
Is there a Houston Methodist MyChart lawsuit?
There was one Houston Methodist MyChart lawsuit over tracking: Sweat v. Houston Methodist Hospital, No. 4:24-cv-00775 in the Southern District of Texas. The court granted summary judgment to Houston Methodist on September 22, 2025. As of October 6, 2026 no settlement exists.
Did Houston Methodist share MyChart data with Facebook?
The lawsuit alleged the Pixel was on the website and the patient portal. In its September 2025 opinion, the court found Houston Methodist did not embed the Pixel within MyChart; it was on the public website until June 2022.
Why did the hospital win?
A party to a communication can be sued under the Wiretap Act only if it intercepted it to commit a crime or tort. The judge found no evidence Houston Methodist used the Pixel with that purpose; staff believed it sent only aggregated, anonymized data.
Can I still file a claim?
No. There is no settlement, no fund, no administrator, no claim form and no deadline for any Houston Methodist tracking or breach case that we could find as of October 6, 2026.
Is there a Houston Methodist data breach lawsuit?
We found none. The one recent Houston Methodist data breach report concerns vendor Lena Health, with records of 2,134 patients said to be exposed, reported in January 2026. We found no notice letters, lawsuit or settlement tied to it.
I saw a $425,000 Methodist settlement. Is that mine?
Almost certainly not. That settlement involved The Methodist Hospitals, Inc. of Gary, Indiana, and a 2019 email breach affecting 68,039 patients. It is a different hospital system from Houston Methodist.
What is the patient portal called?
Houston Methodist MyChart, a system-wide portal used at all Houston Methodist facilities, with the MyMethodist app on phones. MyChart customer service is 832.667.5694.
What can I check myself?
Keep any breach letter that names Houston Methodist or a vendor. Review insurer statements for care you never received. If you get a notice, confirm it on the official settlement site and the court docket before entering anything.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.
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