Chiropractor fights to keep three class actions in linePublished: 2010-06-05 15:01:47Author: Amelia Flood | The Record | March 4, 2010Belleville area chiropractor Kathleen Roche is attempting to adjust
three class action suits filed in two counties to her favor, despite
settlement of one, the potential dismissal of a second and a motion to
dismiss a third.
Roche is the sole class member who wants a $1.25
million settlement of a Madison County class action case against First
Health Insurance Group overturned.
Her objection has played out
dramatically in court against a backdrop of sparring attorneys who used
to work together -- Richard Burke of St. Louis and Brad Lakin and his
band of lawyers from Wood River. Since parting ways, they have become
foes in this case and others.
Roche objected in part to the
settlement of the Madison County First Health suit because she wants a
St. Clair County class action suit she leads against First Health - with
virtually identical claims -- to continue.
However, under the
settlement judgment entered by Madison County Circuit Judge Daniel Stack
in January, Roche's St. Clair County suit could be nullified because,
as a class member, she would be barred from pursuing the same claims as
were litigated in the prevailing case led by fellow area chiropractors
Lawrence Shipley and Richard Coy.
And in the middle of her
objections to the Shipley-Coy settlement, Roche filed another class
action against Zenith Insurance Company with similar claims made by
Shipley-Coy.
Shipley-Coy attorneys at LakinChapman argue that
Roche's suit against Zenith is evidence that Roche doesn't believe her
own "objection" arguments. They say it undermines Roche's argument that
the Shipley-Coy settlement is unfair to the class.
Zenith is
seeking to dismiss Roche's case.
While Roche has filed to appeal
the $1.25 million Madison County Shipley-Coy settlement, the other
parties have filed a cross appeal asking an upper court to throw out her
attorney, Richard Burke, for alleged conflicts of interest.
The
suit that started it all
The case that ties all three class
actions together was filed in 2004 by lead plaintiffs Shipley and Coy,
who have led several other class action suits filed in Madison County
against insurance companies.
In their class action against First
Health, the two have alleged that they and a state-wide class of health
care providers were gypped out of money they were owed by a so-called
"silent PPO."
Under a normal PPO, insurance companies are given
discounts by the providers in their network in exchange for steering
additional patients and clients to the health care provider. Volume then
makes up for the discounts.
In a silent PPO, the insurer takes
the discounts but does not steer more patients to providers.
The
parties in the 2004 Shipley-Coy case against First Health announced the
suit's settlement in early 2009. Roche moved to intervene in April of
that year.
Not surprisingly, a spat erupted between Burke and his
former colleagues from the Lakin firm, who filed to have Burke thrown
out of the case.
Full story