/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/VMEJR4UGMNPSBCIPKWDW3TIH2A.jpg)
Oct 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court has rejected legal challenges to a $2.67 billion settlement that resolves civil antitrust claims that Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and member plans conspired to drive up health insurance costs.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Alabama-based U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor's August 2022 approval of the settlement, which followed nearly a decade of litigation involving allegations from individual policyholders, businesses and others.
The appeals court's order on Wednesday spurned challenges to the insurance subscribers' deal from Home Depot and others. One objector fought the $667 million in legal fees and expenses that are part of the settlement.
Writing for the panel, Chief Circuit Judge William Pryor said Home Depot had not persuaded the court that the settlement would harm the power of antitrust enforcers or others to bring claims against Blue Cross Blue Shield in the future.
"The release in this appeal is limited and affects the rights of only some private individuals to sue Blue Cross, and it does not affect public enforcement of the antitrust laws," Pryor wrote.
The panel said Home Depot's concerns were "overstated."
Home Depot and a lawyer for the company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
An attorney for the class, David Boies of law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, in a statement called the settlement "historic" and welcomed its approval by the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit.
"Consumers across the country will now benefit from the increased health care insurance competition, and substantial monetary award, that this settlement provides," Boies said.
Boies argued part of the case at the 11th Circuit last month with Charles Cooper of Cooper & Kirk, who also praised the decision.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which backed the deal, in a statement said it looked "forward to putting the litigation behind us, once the appeals process is complete."
Policyholders accused the association and member plans of agreeing not to compete with each other, in violation of U.S. antitrust law. The first complaint was filed in 2012.
In a filing, the plaintiffs' lawyers, led by firms including Boies Schiller and Hausfeld, said the settlement was "one of the largest monetary recoveries ever achieved in a private antitrust class action."
The settlement calls for legal fees and expenses of $667 million, or 25% of the settlement fund.
The lawyers' fees "fell within the range of reasonableness," the 11th Circuit panel said.
The deal does not resolve claims from individual companies that opted out of the class action to pursue separate civil lawsuits. Health providers including hospitals and doctors also have pending claims.
The settlement objectors can still ask the appeals court to reconsider or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case is In Re: Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litigation, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. No. 22-13051.
Read more:
Ford Motor Co sues Blue Cross Blue Shield in antitrust case over ‘astronomical’ profit
Class lawyers defend $667 mln fee award in insurance antitrust case
Boies, Hausfeld among law firms reaping $667 mln windfall in Blue Cross antitrust case
Jumpstart your morning with top legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
"cros" - Google News
October 26, 2023 at 05:21AM
https://ift.tt/SW1QuDv
$2.7 bln Blue Cross antitrust settlement upheld by US appeals court - Reuters
"cros" - Google News
https://ift.tt/v7ZWIDh
https://ift.tt/NUe8WoV
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "$2.7 bln Blue Cross antitrust settlement upheld by US appeals court - Reuters"
Post a Comment