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PRESS
RELEASE
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| Court Grants Final Approval to Class Action
Settlement in Uninsured Pricing Lawsuit Against Sutter Health |
| San Francisco, December 12,
2006 – The Honorable David W. Abbott of the Sacramento
Superior Court granted final approval today to a class
action settlement resolving claims regarding pricing and
collection practices for uninsured patients at all of Sutter
Health’s affiliate hospitals. |
| Class members will
be entitled to make a claim for refunds or deductions from
their prior hospital bills. As part of the settlement,
Class members will be entitled to make a claim for refunds
or bill reductions of between 25% to 45% from their prior
hospital bills. For the next three years, Sutter hospitals
have also agreed to maintain discounted pricing policies
for uninsured patients that will make Sutter’s pricing
for uninsured patients comparable to the pricing for patients
with private insurance. In addition, Sutter has agreed
to maintain more compassionate collections policies that
will protect uninsureds who fall behind in their payments. |
| The claims process under the settlement
is ongoing. Claim forms are available online at the settlement
website, www.uninsuredsettlement.com, and the deadline
to submit claims is January 17, 2007. |
| The Settlement Class includes all persons
who: |
- Received hospital services from
a Sutter-affiliated hospital between September 3, 2000
and August 3, 2006; and
- Were uninsured at the time of treatment.
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| “We are pleased that the Court has
granted final approval to this groundbreaking settlement
so that uninsured patients will receive substantial refunds
or reductions on their bills going back to September 2000.
In the future, uninsured patients will also benefit substantially,
because the settlement requires that Sutter end price discrimination
against its uninsured patients, maintain generous charity
case policies for low-income uninsureds to receive free
or heavily discounted care, and protect uninsured patients
from unfair collections practices. We hope that other hospital
systems will follow this positive trend in fair hospital
pricing and treatment for uninsured patients,” said
Plaintiffs’ attorney Kelly
M. Dermody, of Lieff
Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, in San Francisco,
California. |
| The consolidated lawsuit was filed by
six uninsured patients on behalf of themselves and hundreds
of thousands of uninsured patients at Sutter-affiliated
hospitals in California, alleging that Sutter charged uninsured
patients excessive and unfair prices for medical treatment
and services at Sutter-affiliated hospitals, and engaged
in aggressive and unfair collections practices. Defendant
denied wrongdoing and liability in the case. |
| Lead Counsel for named plaintiffs and
class members is Kelly M. Dermody of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP. More information about the settlement can be found
at www.uninsuredsettlement.com, or by calling the contact
listed below. |
Kelly M. Dermody
LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP
275 Battery Street, 30th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
Tel.: (415) 956-1000 |
| Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP, is a sixty attorney, AV-rated law firm founded in
1972 with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Nashville.
Lieff Cabraser has served as court-appointed Plaintiffs’ Lead
or Class Counsel in state and federal coordinated, multi-district,
and complex litigation throughout the United States. Lieff
Cabraser has litigated and resolved thousands of individual
lawsuits and hundreds of class and group actions, including
some of the most important civil cases in the United States
over the last decade. |
| Lieff Cabraser enjoys a national
reputation for professional integrity and the successful
prosecution of our clients’ claims. In every year
since 2003, the National Law Journal has selected Lieff
Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the
nation. In compiling the list, the National Law Journal
examined recent verdicts and settlements in addition to
overall track records. Lieff Cabraser is one of only three
plaintiffs' law firms in the United States to receive this
honor for the last four consecutive years. |
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LIEFF
CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP
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| Notice: Lieff
Cabraser attorneys provide legal advice and practice law for clients in
federal district courts throughout the United States and in state courts
where we are licensed to practice. In states in which our lawyers are not
licensed to practice, we have affiliations with local attorneys who serve
as co-counsel with our firm. Please read our disclaimer. |
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Copyright © 2008 Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP
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