EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE FACILITIES P.C. v. BLUECROSS BLUESHIELD OF TENNESSEE INC. ET AL. - Articles

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EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE FACILITIES P.C. v. BLUECROSS BLUESHIELD OF TENNESSEE INC. ET AL.

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Nov 29, 2018

Head Comment: With dissenting opinion by SWINEY

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1:

L. Gino Marchetti, Jr. and Keith W. Blair, Nashville, Tennessee, and Seth A. Goldberg and, Joseph J. Pangaro, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the appellant, Emergency Medical Care Facilities, PC.

Attorneys 2:

Gary C. Shockley, and Caldwell G. Collins, Nashville, Tennessee, and Charles H. Barnett, III, Jackson, Tennessee for the appellees, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Inc., and Volunteer State Health Plan, Inc.

Judge(s): GOLDIN

This interlocutory appeal pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 27-1-125 follows the trial court’s denial of a motion for class action certification. The proposed class consists of various physicians and health care professionals who are participating providers in the Defendants’ insurance networks and who provide medical services in the emergency departments of hospitals. The central contention is that the class members’ contracts with the Defendants were breached when the fee for certain services was capped at a $50.00 rate. The trial court ultimately concluded that certification of the class was improper and held, among other things, that the plaintiff had not demonstrated that common issues in the case predominated over individual ones. For the reasons stated in this Opinion, we affirm the trial court’s denial of class certification.

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