Settlement Structure: Claims Made
Active: Closed
Closed Settlement Statement:
According to court documents, the claim submission deadline has passed. Please contact the claims administrator if you have any questions.
Case Summary:Sutter Health is paying $575 million to settle a combined case, consisting of a class action and lawsuit filed by the California Attorney General. The combined suit alleged that the Sutter and some of its affiliates, such as Sutter Bay Hospitals and Sutter Valley Medical Foundation, violated California’s antitrust law and its Unfair Competition law, by engaging in practices and including provisions in their contracts that eliminated or unreasonably restricted insurers’ ability to exclude some Sutter providers from networks or relegate them to lower tiers. The suit alleged that this enabled overcharging of self-funded payors for general acute care services and other products.
Docket Number:CGC‐14‐538451
Company: Sutter Health
Filing Deadline: May 28, 2021
Class Period: January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2016
Objection Deadline: May 28, 2021
Final Approval Hearing: July 19, 2021
Proof of Purchase:You do not need to provide proof if you agree with the Settlement Administrator’s total of relevant payments, which will be sent to you after your Claim Form is received and evaluated.
Eligibility:You may be eligible if you are a self-funded payor and (1) are citizens of California (that is, you are organized under the laws of California or your principal place of business is in California, and (2) you paid Sutter for general acute care hospital services or ancillary products, at any time between the following dates for the following insurers:
- January 1, 2003 and July 25, 2016 for prices set by contracts between Sutter and Aetna
- January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2016 for prices set by contracts between Sutter and Anthem
- January 1, 2003 and June 25, 2016 for prices set by contracts between Sutter and Blue Shield
- January 1, 2003 and April 30, 2016 for prices set by contracts between Sutter and Cigna
- January 1, 2003 and June 30, 2016 for prices set by contracts between Sutter and United Healthcare/PacifiCare
You are a self-funded payor if you are an entity (such as an employer, health care benefit trust, union benefit trust, or California government entity) that funds a health plan for your employees or members.
Typical Settlement Amount:The $575 million is 59% of the amount that would have been requested had the case gone to trial. The net settlement fund will be distributed to class members pro rata according to a Plan of Allocation. There may be more than one round of distributions, as $50 million has been set aside for dispute resolution in the first round. While part of the settlement agreement is redacted, class members may follow a process to receive access to the redacted information.
Total Settlement Amount: $575 million
Class Representative Proposed Incentive Fee:$250,000
Law Firms:
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
Farella Braun & Martell L.L.C.
Pillsbury & Coleman, LLP
Claim Form: Sutter Health Antitrust Settlement Claim Form
Case Name: UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust, on behalf of itself and all others similarly situated v. Sutter Health et al.
Settlement Website: Sutter Health Antitrust Settlement Website
Claims Administrator:
Epiq Class Action & Claims Solutions, Inc.
UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust v. Sutter Health
c/o Administrator
P.O. Box 6389
Portland, OR 97228-6389
1-866-828-2466
info@SutterHealthLawsuit.com