Sutter Health Settles Monopoly Pricing Suit Ahead of Trial

Northern California health-care provider Sutter Health has reached a settlement in a long-standing antitrust lawsuit, avoiding a scheduled retrial over claims that it charged excessive prices and imposed restrictive contracts on insurers.

According to Bloomberg, the settlement was disclosed in a court notice filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The filing stated that both sides had “reached an agreement in principle to settle all individual and class claims.” A formal motion for preliminary approval is expected within the next 45 days.

The lawsuit accused Sutter Health of using its market dominance to inflate health-care costs by requiring insurers to accept “all or nothing” contracts, a practice that allegedly forced them to include all of Sutter’s facilities in their networks regardless of cost. Plaintiffs had sought $1.2 billion in damages during the initial trial.

Per Bloomberg, Sutter had previously secured a trial victory, but that decision was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in June 2024. The appellate court’s ruling also allowed the introduction of older evidence in the retrial, which had been scheduled to begin Monday.

The case was similar to a 2021 lawsuit brought by the California attorney general’s office, which Sutter Health settled for $575 million.

Plaintiffs in the current case are represented by Constantine Cannon LLP, Shinder Cantor Lerner LLP, and Mehdi Firm, while Sutter Health is represented by Jones Day.

The case is Sidibe v. Sutter Health, N.D. Cal., No. 3:12-cv-4854.

Source: Bloomberg