Scruggs Team, Targeting HMOs,Files Five More Federal Lawsuits
Scruggs Team, Targeting HMOs,Files Five More Federal Lawsuits
November 24, 1999ÿ
ÿ By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
ÿ HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- A legal team led by attorney
ÿ Richard Scruggs filed five more lawsuits against some
ÿ of America's top health-maintenance organizations,
ÿ alleging they use "fraudulent and heavy-handed
ÿ extortionate conduct" to limit patient care.
ÿ The suits, filed in federal court here, increase pressure
ÿ on HMOs to treat patients more generously or risk facing
ÿ huge court judgments.
ÿ The lawyers, many of whom helped engineer nationwide
ÿ legal action against the tobacco industry, filed their first
ÿ national lawsuit against Aetna Inc., Hartford, Conn.,
ÿ early last month.
ÿ Combined, the group's suits seek to represent nearly 50
ÿ million people insured by HMOs. The companies named
ÿ in the suits are Philadelphia's Cigna Corp., Foundation
ÿ Health Systems Inc. of Woodland Hills, Calif., Humana
ÿ Inc., Louisville, Ky., PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. of
ÿ Santa Ana, Calif., and Prudential Insurance Co. of
ÿ America, Newark, N.J., whose Prudential HealthCare
ÿ unit was acquired in August by Aetna.
ÿ The companies said they hadn't seen the complaints, but
ÿ they called the allegations baseless. "This appears to be
ÿ an orchestrated effort on the part of a small group of
ÿ well-funded attorneys to use the court system to create
ÿ enormous fees for themselves while doing serious
ÿ potential damage to the world's best health-care system,"
ÿ Cigna spokesman Wendell B. Potter said. Prudential
ÿ spokesman Robert DeFillippo said only that the
ÿ company no longer owns Prudential HealthCare.
ÿ Hiram Eastland, a member of the legal team, said the
ÿ goal wasn't to destroy HMOs but to "level the playing
ÿ field for physicians and patients" in their dealings with
ÿ managed-care companies. |
