In The Shane Group Inc. et al. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Eastern District of Michigan Judge Denise Page Hood has ruled that a proposed class action may move forward. The putative class claims the health insurance company included anticompetitive most-favored-nation (MFN) provisions in its hospital contracts that required the hospitals to charge […]
Category Archives: Most Favored Nations
Follow-on Class Action Against Michigan Blue Cross/Shield to Move Forward
January 23, 2013 – 9:00 am
Follow-on Case to DOJ Blue Cross Blue Shield Prosecution to Move Forward
July 2, 2012 – 4:47 pm
In Aetna Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Eastern Distict of Michigan Judge Denise Page Hood struck down Blue Cross’ motion to dismiss Aetna’s complaint alleging that Blue Cross Blue Shield entered antitcompetitive agreements prohibiting about half of the state’s 131 hospitals from offering more favorable terms to competing insurers. As a result, […]
Court Denies Blue Cross’ Motion to Compel Disclosure of Competitor and Consumer Interviews
July 2, 2012 – 4:46 pm
In United States v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Eastern District of Michigan Judge Mona K. Majzoub denied a motion to compel, filed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, seeking information the government collected in interviews with competitors and customers gathered while investing the case. In its suit, the government accuses Blue Cross […]
US Supreme Court Grants Cert. to Resolve State Action and Class Action Disputes
July 2, 2012 – 4:40 pm
In the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) prosecution of the Phoebe Putney Health System Inc. merger, the U.S. Supreme Court will clarify the degree of specificity that state lawmakers must use in adopting an anticompetitive state regulation in order to secure an exemption from the federal antitrust laws. The Eleventh Circuit upheld Phoebe Putney’s $195 million […]
E-book Publishing Antitrust Case Filed
May 1, 2012 – 4:41 pm
The United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and the European Commission have launched major antitrust initiatives against the e-book publishing industry and Apple. Both enforcers are attacking the publishers’ decisions to switch from a traditional resale model in which book sellers paid wholesale prices and set their own resale prices to an agency model […]
DOJ Proseuction of Blue Cross of Michigan to Move Forward
June 30, 2011 – 1:41 pm
Update June 2011: Eastern District of Michigan Judge Denise Page Hood has denied a motion to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The antitrust suit alleges that the most-favored-nation clauses in the health insurance company’s contracts with hospitals have effectively immunized Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan from competition […]