Opinion ID: 3026402
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Love and Solomon Cases in Florida

Text: The Grider case was just one of many similar cases that were being filed around the country at the time. On May 22, 2003, three doctors from Alabama, one doctor from Puerto Rico, and the medical societies of South Carolina, Louisiana, Northern Virginia, and Puerto Rico, filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida against sixtynine separate Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies throughout the United States (“Blues defendants”), and their national trade association, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (“the Association”). Capital and Highmark are among the specifically named defendants, but Keystone is not.1 The case, which is now 1 Keystone Health Plan East, Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Independence Blue Cross operating out of the Philadelphia area, is named as a defendant in Love. The complaint also purports to include the subsidiaries of all of the named defendants, which ostensibly would cover Keystone Health Plan Central. However, while some of those subsidiaries 9 known as the Love case (formerly, it was known as Thomas), No. 03-21296 (S.D. Fla.), was eventually assigned to District Judge Federico Moreno. It alleges a national conspiracy among the Blues defendants, with the Association as the “hub,” to bundle and downcode claims and to delay payments to providers under contract with the defendant HMOs. On November 4, 2003, thirteen chiropractic physicians, podiatrists, physical therapists, and psychologists from Florida, Texas, Oregon, and Arizona filed the action now known as Solomon, No. 03-22935 (S.D. Fla.). The Solomon case involves essentially the same claims as Love. As in Love, both Capital and Highmark are named defendants. Although the complaint purports to include the subsidiaries of all of the named defendants as defendants themselves, it does not specifically list Keystone as a defendant in the case. The Love and Solomon cases are part of the consolidated multidistrict proceedings being conducted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (MDL No. 1334) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407. On March 27, 2004, Highmark and Capital filed notice with the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407(c)(ii) arguing that the Grider case would be appropriate for transfer to the Florida MDL proceedings as a tag-along action. Keystone did not join the motion to transfer. On August 10, 2004, the Chairman of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation are specifically listed, Keystone Health Plan Central is not a specifically named defendant. 10 entered an order denying transfer of the Grider case to the Florida MDL. The order explained that while Grider shares some questions of fact with actions in this litigation previously centralized in the Southern District of Florida, inclusion of Grider in MDL-1334 proceedings in the Southern District of Florida will not necessarily serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation. We point out that Grider is nearly three years old with a discovery cutoff date of less than five months away. Moreover, alternatives to Section 1407 transfer exist that can minimize whatever possibilities there might be of duplicate discovery, inconsistent pretrial rulings, or both. Grider, 2007 WL 201011,  (quoting Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Order Denying Transfer (Aug. 10, 2004)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Accordingly, the Grider case continued to proceed independently of the Florida MDL.