Sixth Circuit Vacates Class Certification for Cancer Patients Suing Life Investors Insurance Company

Gooch v. Life Investors Ins. Co. of Am. Et al., (United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit February 10, 2012)

The Sixth Circuit vacated an order of class certification for cancer patients because there was an overlap between class members of this class and a class that had settled on the same issue in another case. Despite this, the Court upheld a preliminary injunction forcing the defendant to pay for the plaintiff’s lymphoma treatment bills in full.

The plaintiff brought a claim against the defendant insurance company for wrongfully denying policyholders payment on cancer treatment claims. The plaintiff brought the case because the defendant changed its previous policy from paying the higher list price of treatments that appeared on hospital bills to paying the actual charges incurred by patients covered under its cancer policies.

The Sixth Circuit Court noted that there was an identical class action case in Arkansas that took on this same issue and settled in 2009. The Arkansas case is known as the Runyan Case. The case involved the same defendant and the same claims that covered cancer patients during the years 2004-2009. The Court found that this class action was precluded by the Runyan Case. The Court found that there was overlap between the settling plaintiffs in the Runyan case. The class members in this case attempted to represent the class members who were covered by cancer policies issued by the defendant from 2001 to present. Moreover, the current plaintiff had opted out of the Runyan Case, and that impacted his status as a class representative.

The Court did not dismiss the defendant’s appeal of the order in which the District Court denied the defendant’s motion to dissolve the preliminary injunction because it could not “review a district court order denying a request for reconsideration of a previously granted preliminary injunction.” Therefore the Court held that the preliminary injunction remained in place forcing the defendant to pay for the plaintiff’s lymphoma treatment bills in full.

The decision can be found here

Sarah Delaney and Joanna Roberto