Update May 2009: The plaintiffs have settled with Oakwood Healthcare for $7.2 and a agreement not to fix nurses salaries in the future. The deal is currently pending court approval. Oakwood did not admit liability, and the settlement includes a provision that would reduce the amount if the plaintiffs settle for less than 2% of nurses wages with any other provider other than St. Johns Health Partners or Bon Secours Cottage Health. Also, if more than 50 class members opt out, then Oakwood may void the settlement.
Update April 2009: St. Johns Health Partners, one of the hospital defendants, has agreed to settle the claims against it for $13.58 million without admitting liability.
In Pat Cason-Merendo et al. v. Detroit Medical Center et al. Eastern District of Michigan Judge Gerald E. Rosen denied Mount Clemens General Hospital Inc.’s motion for summary judgment in a putative class action suit brought by registered nurses employed by Detroit hospitals. The complaint alleges that 6 Detroit hospitals and other unnamed co-conspirators agreed not to compete with each other with respect to nurses’ wages by 1) paying nurses similar wages; 2) jointly recruiting new hires; and 3)routinely exchanging nonpublic information about nurses’ wages. In its motion for summary judgment, Mount Clemens claimed that since the majority of the nurses were unionized and their wages were set through collective bargaining and not through competition, the nurses were protected from the alleged conspiracy and thus were not “injured” under the antitrust law. Rejecting the hospital’s argument, the court held that the presence of the union did not change the nature of the wage-fixing scheme and defendants’ collusion, and at most, mitigates the impact of the defendant’s anti-competitive conduct.