HOUSTON – AZA co-founder John Zavitsanos was named by the National Law Journal as one of the “Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Trailblazers” for his jury wins in trials seeking fair insurance reimbursements for emergency room doctors around the nation.

NLJ’s Trailblazers is a special supplement spotlighting professionals who are “agents of change in their respective practice areas.” Mr. Zavitsanos will be among those recognized in the May/June 2022 issue of the National Law Journal. 

He was also one of only 10 lawyers named as a “Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar” by Law360 for these groundbreaking healthcare jury wins.

Mr. Zavitsanos has won three jury verdicts for emergency room physicians in Arkansas, Texas and Nevada. The momentum became especially clear in a third case, a closely watched two-month trial in 2021. A Nevada jury issued a $62 million verdict against the nation’s largest insurer, United Healthcare. With attorneys’ fees, the final judgment will exceed $70 million. 

“The determined desire of my client TeamHealth to seek fair pay for emergency room doctors around the nation led us to the first case. AZA was called six days before that Arkansas case,” Mr. Zavitsanos said.

The Arkansas jury awarded $9.4 million against the insurance company sued there. In a second case, a Harris County jury awarded $19.1 million.

The CEO of TeamHealth said of the Nevada verdict: “Our win …  will meaningfully impact every front-line physician in America — and that’s no exaggeration.” 

This Nevada win against the largest U.S. insurer could be a bellwether for the more than two dozen similar cases around the nation against various insurers to stop systematic underpayment of ER doctors’ groups by insurance companies.

“These three are the first trials in the nation to define reasonable rates for ER docs, especially when they are out of network. They respond to insurers’ 5- to-10-year plan to cut reimbursements—jeopardizing the very existence of emergency rooms around the country,” Mr. Zavitsanos said. 

Mr. Zavitsanos’ AZA team on these cases includes partners Joe Ahmad and Jane Langdell Robinson and Jason McManis; Of Counsel Kevin Leyendecker; and associates Thomas Frashier, Michael Killingsworth and Louis Liao.

AZA is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, healthcare, intellectual property, and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by Chambers USA 2021 among the best in Texas commercial law and intellectual property; by U.S. News – Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms for ten years running; has been named Litigation Department of the Year by Texas Lawyer; and was previously dubbed by Law360 a Texas Powerhouse law firm.