On November 3, 2010, Eric Katz, New Jersey health care trial and class action attorney, made a presentation to the New Jersey Hospital Association in Princeton.  Mr. Katz discussed his land mark physician class action settlement against Horizon Blue Cross and how certain aspects of that settlement would be highly beneficial to New Jersey's hospitals.  The presentation was attended by over 50 hospital executives.

Sutter-Settlement-Powerpoint.pdf (867.04 kb)

A class action settlement, valued as much as $50 million, between New Jersey physicians and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey was approved by the Superior Court of New Jersey on June 16th.  The settlement removes the "black box" in which Horizon has been processing claims submitted by physicians.  Under the settlement terms, among several other benefits, Horizon must dislcose to physicians all fee schedule information and provide an interactive web tool that allows physicians to input procedure codes before services are rendered in order to learn how Horizon will process and pay those codes.  In addition, a dedicated liaision was established to assist capitated physicians to enable them to be paid properly and quickly for the services they render.  Our law firm represented the Class in this action.  The Court's complete opinion is attached to this post.

Sutter Opinion.doc (77.50 kb)

About Class Actions

Eric Katz and the attorneys in his New Jersey law firm have extensive experience in handling class actions against major managed care organizations.  Mr. Katz is lead class counsel in several class actions filed against the managed care industry on behalf of physicians and dentists seeking prompt and appropriate payment of claims. In one case, Mr. Katz settled a landmark $39 million class action on behalf of tens of thousands of New Jersey physicians against Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

In another physician class action filed by Mr. Katz on behalf of approximately 20,000 New Jersey physicians against Oxford Health Plans, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently upheld the arbitrator’s certification of that action as a class action.This physician class action is one of the first in the country to be certified as a class action in arbitration. Mr. Katz and the attorneys in his New Jersey law firm also represent the interests of patients against managed care organizations for their wrongful denial of coverage and benefits and, for example, filed a class action against Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey for its improper denial of coverage to victims of eating disorders. The case later settled with another similar class action.  As part of the settlement, Horizon agreed to cover eating disorder treatment claims in "parity with," in other words the same as other claims.

Mr. Katz and the class action attorneys in his New Jersey law firm also represent plaintiffs in a variety of consumer class actions, including nationwide litigation against automobile manufacturers regarding product defects, litigation against automobile insurers for their failure to properly cover various kinds of claims, and so on.

In our prosecution of class actions, we commit every possible resource into developing and litigating the claims so as to ensure the maximum possible recovery to the class.  If you believe that you have a claim that is appropriate for class action representation, please contact Mr. Katz and he will contact you within twenty-four (24) hours to discuss your case.