Medicare reimbursements from insurance companies has been a big winner for the legal industry over the last decade or so, but a federal appeals court decision this week may have an impact on the trend.
In a class-action case that has been in the public eye around the United States, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said that the lead plaintiff, a widow of a deceased North Carolina UPS worker, has no legal standing to sue Liberty Mutual Insurance companies because she wasn’t really injured and had not lost any money, in a decision made on Monday.
“No matter what right or cause of action a statute may grant a plaintiff, she must still have an injury in fact to sue in federal court,” a panel of 4th Circuit judges said (h/t Insurance Journal). The panel referenced a 2016 court ruling in the process.
“Congress may elevate harms that were previously insufficient to justify suit ‘to actionable legal status’ via statutory causes of action,” the court wrote. “But that does not mean that Congress can override Article III and expand federal court jurisdiction beyond its constitutional confines.”
Ultimately, the federal district court agreed with Liberty Mutual and dismissed the case.
“Since Liberty Mutual was not obligated to pay Penegar the funds owed to Medicare, the failure to pay did not injure her like it did the plaintiff in Netro,” the 4th Circuit opinion states.
You can read the entire ruling here.
