LAS VEGAS – In a closely watched trial, a Nevada jury handed AZA client TeamHealth yet another trial victory on behalf of underpaid emergency room doctors, this time with a $62.65 million award against United Healthcare, the largest insurer in the nation.
The seven-week trial put several Las Vegas area ER physicians groups up against a cluster of United Healthcare affiliates. The jury found that the insurers cheated the doctors groups out of more than $2.65 million in payments and also awarded $60 million in punitive damages. TeamHealth plaintiffs will also seek attorney’s fees.
The lawsuit is one of many TeamHealth affiliates have filed against various insurers across the country to stop systematic underpayment of ER doctors groups by insurance companies. AZA has already won two other jury trials for TeamHealth doctors in several states and settled a handful of other cases. 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.
“United Healthcare got greedier and greedier and designed ways to not follow their own plan documents and brazenly pay these essential emergency room doctors less and less,” said AZA co-founder John Zavitsanos, the lead lawyer on the case. “United just paid what it wanted to, not what it promised to, and not what it owed as reasonable and customary.”
In the second phase of the case to determine punitive damages, Mr. Zavitsanos told jurors to consider how reprehensible the insurers’ actions were and to speak loudly enough with their verdict to create a deterrent.
The jury found the insurance affiliates liable for unjust enrichment, breach of contract and unfair insurance practices. The court had ruled that the insurers willfully hid evidence in this case.
AZA co-founder Joe Ahmad told jurors in closing arguments that the ER doctors he represents do not just think about money like the insurance company claimed. He noted that if you’ve been in an ER you know “people that just think about money go into another line of work. People that just think about money go into another line of business … another specialty.”
The AZA team also included partner Jane Langdell Robinson; Of Counsel Kevin Leyendecker; and associates Michael Killingsworth, Louis Liao, and Jason McManis. Local counsel was Pat Lundvall of the Las Vegas firm McDonald Carano. Florida attorney Justin Fineberg of Lash and Goldberg was on the legal team. And Carol Owen, TeamHealth’s chief counsel for commercial litigation, also played a significant role.
TeamHealth is the nation’s largest clinical practice. It operates in 47 states, contracts with 16,000 healthcare professionals and treats 30 million patients annually.
The case is Fremont Emergency Services (Mandavia), et al. vs. UnitedHealth Group, Inc. et al. before Clark County Judge Nancy L. Allf in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada, case A-19-792978-B.
The plaintiffs were Fremont Emergency Services serving the Las Vegas area, Ruby Crest Emergency Medicine providing emergency services in Northeastern Nevada (Elko), and Team Physicians in Fallon.
The defendants were United Healthcare or UnitedHealth Group, Inc and affiliates Sierra Health Services, Health Plan of Nevada, Oxford Health Plans and United Medical Resources, both of Delaware.
AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., 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 nine years running; has been named Litigation Department of the Year by Texas Lawyer; and was previously dubbed by Law360 a Texas Powerhouse law firm. National corporate counsel named AZA one of the country’s best in client service among law firms serving the Fortune 500.