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A recent decision on class certification by a New Jersey federal court addressed commonality and predominance in a manner that may have significant implications for health insurance class actions generally, and its impact could extend more broadly to other insurance class actions.  Franco v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Case No. 07-cv-6039 (SRC) (PS)…

A recent 4-3 decision by the Montana Supreme Court allows objectors to a class action settlement to take fairly broad discovery regarding the terms of the settlement, potentially including deposing class counsel regarding the negotiations and mediation, notwithstanding a Montana statute providing for confidentiality of mediations.  This decision demonstrates the importance of recognizing that, although…

The Sixth Circuit recently ruled in a health insurance case that a claim for a declaratory judgment regarding insurance contract interpretation could be certified under Rule 23(b)(2) under Wal-Mart v. Dukes, even if the declaratory relief would be a predicate to monetary relief, under which certification was sought under Rule 23(b)(3) but not yet…

The Montana Supreme Court’s recent decision in Diaz v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, 2011 Mont. LEXIS 433 (Mont. Dec. 21, 2011) is an interesting example of how some state supreme courts are effectively ignoring or side-stepping the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct.

The recent Sixth Circuit decision in Pipefitters Local 636 Insurance Fund v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 16624 (6th Cir. Aug. 12, 2011) makes some interesting points about superiority that I think are particularly significant, and have not seen in other class action decisions. 

The case involved whether certain…

A recent certification of a class against CIGNA in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is a good example of the type of issue on which insurers may continue to have significant class action exposure following the Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart (see my blog post on Wal-Mart).  This decision has received fairly extensive coverage…

Insurers that issue coverage only for insureds within certain age brackets should review their procedures with respect to whether they might be charging premiums for insureds that are not entitled to coverage under the terms of the policy.  One example of this is where health insurance companies issue policies that allow coverage for dependants only…