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Lawyers Seek To Accelerate Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Appeals

By  |  October 9, 2022

Lawyers for the plaintiffs allege all the appeals disagree with the amount attorneys will receive from the $2.67 billion settlement and how the settlement dollars will be doled out.

Four appeals were filed this month on behalf of six objectors after an Alabama federal judge granted final approval to the $2.67 billion antitrust settlement in August. The trial court’s ruling ended nine years of litigation that involved more than 100 law firms, court records show.

Plaintiffs alleged Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and members unlawfully agreed to curb competition with each other in the health insurance market.

Class attorneys, calling the settlement “historic,” urged the 11th Circuit not “to delay any longer than is necessary the distribution of that compensation to tens of millions of class members because of appeals filed by a very small handful of objectors.” They also said inflation is diminishing the value of the settlement by “millions of dollars each month.”

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