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Insurance
Insurance has become an increasingly prominent part of our lives. We must rely on insurance companies for the protection of our homes and automobiles, for healthcare and life insurance, and to provide vehicles for retirement savings. Unfortunately, insurance companies do not always live up to their end of the bargain - sometimes, they violate their agreements or break the law. Taking on a well-funded insurance company can be a difficult undertaking. Insurance policies -- and the laws that govern them -- are very complex. Moreover, because most people get their health insurance through their employers, disputes over medical benefits are usually governed by a difficult federal law governing employee benefits, known as ERISA.
Our attorneys have repeatedly and successfully litigated medical benefits and insurance class actions. Courts have us to represent large classes of insured individuals whose claims have been improperly processed, calculated, or denied. We currently represent people who have been denied benefits under health plans, homeowners' policies, and supplemental cancer insurance policies. A sample of the successful medical benefits and insurance class actions our attorneys have brought include:
If you feel that your medical benefits or other insurance claims have been improperly processed, calculated or denied, please contact us so that we may evaluate your claim.
If you are an attorney with a client in this position, please consider partnering with Stember Feinstein Doyle Payne & Cordes. We represent referred matters as we represent our own clients, and respect the fact that referred clients have a history of a positive working relationship with the referring attorney. We would be eager to team with you in prosecuting the case. If you prefer, we also can take the lead or act simply as local counsel. We are flexible on fee arrangements, subject, of course, to applicable rules. Under any scenario, Stember Feinstein Doyle Payne & Cordes will provide your client with superb representation.
Our attorneys have repeatedly and successfully litigated medical benefits and insurance class actions. Courts have us to represent large classes of insured individuals whose claims have been improperly processed, calculated, or denied. We currently represent people who have been denied benefits under health plans, homeowners' policies, and supplemental cancer insurance policies. A sample of the successful medical benefits and insurance class actions our attorneys have brought include:
In re: Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania Litigation - Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania, now Highmark Blue Cross, had a practice of calculating co-payments as a percentage of the providers' billed charges when, in fact, it had privately negotiated contracts with providers to pay a different and typically lesser amount for their services. Thus, a patient's 20% copayment was often a much higher percentage of the amount Blue Cross had actually paid to the provider. Our attorneys brought suit to halt this practice and recover overcharged amounts on behalf of people in employer-sponsored medical plans insured or administered by Blue Cross.. During the course of the litigation, Blue Cross changed its practice and began to calculate copayments based on its payments rather than charges, as we had demanded in our lawsuit.. We ultimately settled the case for $14.5 million.
Kennedy v. United Healthcare of Ohio - This class action in the Southern District of Ohio challenged United Healthcare's copayment charges because they were greater than what health plan members should have had to pay under their insurance agreements. We obtained a nearly $2 million recovery on behalf of employees in employer-sponsored medical plans.
Sloter v. Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania - We brought this class action on behalf of participants in employer-sponsored medical benefits plans whose claims for procedures involving In Vitro Fertilization and Gamete Intra Fallopian Transfer were denied even though their health plans did not contain any exclusion for such procedures. We obtained a settlement of more than $1 million on behalf of the participants.
Pogel v. State Farm - We represent State Farm policyholders who were entitled under their homeowners' policies to payment of replacement cost benefits (the amount needed to repair or replace an item of personal property) instead of the actual cash value or depreciated benefits paid by State Farm. After the court ruled in our favor, we reached a tentative $2.6 million settlement on behalf of the class of over 2,000 policyholders
Kennedy v. United Healthcare of Ohio - This class action in the Southern District of Ohio challenged United Healthcare's copayment charges because they were greater than what health plan members should have had to pay under their insurance agreements. We obtained a nearly $2 million recovery on behalf of employees in employer-sponsored medical plans.
Sloter v. Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania - We brought this class action on behalf of participants in employer-sponsored medical benefits plans whose claims for procedures involving In Vitro Fertilization and Gamete Intra Fallopian Transfer were denied even though their health plans did not contain any exclusion for such procedures. We obtained a settlement of more than $1 million on behalf of the participants.
Pogel v. State Farm - We represent State Farm policyholders who were entitled under their homeowners' policies to payment of replacement cost benefits (the amount needed to repair or replace an item of personal property) instead of the actual cash value or depreciated benefits paid by State Farm. After the court ruled in our favor, we reached a tentative $2.6 million settlement on behalf of the class of over 2,000 policyholders
If you feel that your medical benefits or other insurance claims have been improperly processed, calculated or denied, please contact us so that we may evaluate your claim.
If you are an attorney with a client in this position, please consider partnering with Stember Feinstein Doyle Payne & Cordes. We represent referred matters as we represent our own clients, and respect the fact that referred clients have a history of a positive working relationship with the referring attorney. We would be eager to team with you in prosecuting the case. If you prefer, we also can take the lead or act simply as local counsel. We are flexible on fee arrangements, subject, of course, to applicable rules. Under any scenario, Stember Feinstein Doyle Payne & Cordes will provide your client with superb representation.
