Supreme Court Rejects Home Depot's Objection, Upholds $2.7B Blue Cross Settlement

Author: Vandana Singh | June 25, 2024 02:17pm

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to a $2.7 billion nationwide class action settlement against Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The settlement addressed allegations that the insurer overcharged commercial and individual subscribers for years. This decision effectively upholds the antitrust agreement and a $667 million fee award for the class attorneys who negotiated the deal.

Health insurance subscribers in the decade-long case accused Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and others of unlawfully agreeing not to compete, resulting in higher insurance costs.

Blue Cross denied any wrongdoing but agreed to settle the case in 2020.

Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) had objected to the settlement, stating that it would restrict future antitrust claims against Blue Cross.

The justices denied Home Depot’s petition and declined to hear a related challenge to the attorney fee award, which is among the largest in class action history.

Both Supreme Court petitions challenged an order by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the settlement.

Home Depot argued that the settlement amount should be capped at $194 million, based on the hours worked by the lawyers multiplied by a prevailing hourly rate, Reuters reported.

The attorneys representing approximately 100 million Blue Cross subscribers urged the justices to reject the challenges.

They argued that the settlement did not improperly bar future claims from the same issues. Additionally, they contended that the appeals court did not merely “rubber-stamp” the fee award, asserting that their extensive litigation efforts justified the amount.

Price Action: HD shares are down 3.8% at $337.46 at last check Tuesday.

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