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Judge approves $90M for Anthem plaintiffs

Kathleen McLaughlin
October 29, 2012
Keywords
Courts, District Courts, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, Law Firms, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, attorney fees, settlement
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A federal judge has approved the largest class-action settlement to come out of an Indianapolis court, paying $90 million to former Anthem Inc. policyholders.

The settlement will go to 700,000 claimants in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Connecticut, who said Anthem underpaid them when it converted in 2001 from policyholder ownership into publicly traded company WellPoint Inc.

The settlement is likely to be a big victory for a small Indianapolis firm, DeLaney & DeLaney, the only local law practice that worked on the case. The six law firms that worked on behalf of plaintiffs are requesting $30 million in fees.

The plaintiffs alleged they were underpaid in a range from $227 million to $448 million, but WellPoint contended it owed them nothing.

Judge Tanya Walton Pratt found after an Oct. 25 hearing that terms of the settlement were fair, reasonable and adequate, but her ruling on attorney fees is forthcoming.

Pratt also granted a “case contribution” award to the lead plaintiffs, Mary Ormond and Kevin Heekin, and approved expenses and costs. WellPoint’s attorney, Craig Hoover, took no position on the settlement plan.

 

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  1. Judge Roger B. Cosbey is unethical and bias toward African American who seeks justice in Title VII claims. He disrespected and used his authority to attempt to intimidate me into taking an unfair settlement and when I refused he proceeded to get my case dismissed and to deny me my Constitutional and Civil Rights. He disobeying several rules of law; specifically, by ruling on summary judgment motions against the Fed. R. Civ. P., without authority of Judge William C. Lee, without consent of the attorneys, and with conspiracy to commit “fraud on the court,” as he conspired with my former attorney. He proved to me that he is bias, unethical, unfair and unfit to be reappointed. In my opinion, he should be disbarred in 2013, for committing fraud on the court, which would make him ineligible for reinstatement in 2014. See docket 3:07 cv 629 where he rules on dispositive motions, knowing magistrates are not vested with that power (especially without consent), grants the defendant an unconscionable number of extensions, accepts my former attorney request for extension for dispositive motion knowing he was working with the opposition, and unbelievably grants the defendant another extension after he requested an extension after he missed the deadline. I know another attorney filed charges against him for bias in race discrimination case(s). I know what he did in my case before he voluntarily recused himself, I just do not know how many other innocent people have been stripped of their rights because of him. I say shame on him and no more of the same.

  2. they are pushing these cases against lawyers too far. thought-crime.

  3. vagueness cannot challenged, so let's write all laws vaguely and throw the constitution out the window.Even if the court is operating under a particular law, if they don't it they will change it to their liking. What a joke!!!

  4. Two convictions becomes one conviction with exactly the same sentence, only it is not clear wheter or not that sentence will be 18 months, 120 months or 138 months. Actually if the guns were in a home, whether or not they were his, he is protected under the 2nd amendment. Jurors need to learn the law and the constitution before judging others. The cour5ts need to do this as well.

  5. With all due respect, Rick, I think you probably would be making a mistake by going to law school. The job market for attorneys is so saturated, you may well find yourself unemployed and with a lot of debt. You mention law would be a good supplement to your skills. True. But employers unfortunately don't value that. You will find that a law degree may well pigeonhole you into an attorney slot and limit career options. If you have a good job now I would hold onto that. As an attorney, you may well end up making less with the aforementioned debt.

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