A federal judge in Chicago on Monday denied class certification to dentists in the long-running antitrust case against Delta Dental, which sought damages estimated to be worth $13 billion.
The suit accused Delta Dental Plans Association and its affiliates of conspiring to divide the market into exclusive territories and fix reimbursement rates at artificially low levels. Dentists had sought to represent a nationwide class of roughly 240,000 providers who participated in Delta’s networks between 2015 and 2022.
In her opinion, US District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo said the dentists failed to show they were harmed in the same way across the board. Some providers may have been paid differently, or not harmed at all, making the case unsuitable for a single class action.
The decision means the case cannot proceed as a sweeping class action, but individual dentists or smaller groups may still pursue claims. Without the leverage of a nationwide class, however, the lawsuit loses much of its potential financial and legal impact. Delta, meanwhile, had argued that its structure helps it compete with national insurers rather than stifle competition.
A copy of the decision is on the Bloomberg Law website.
it goes to show you that big businesses win every day while small business owners can’t compete any longer. We no longer live in a country of laws that protect its people, but only punish them, and law are made by the rich to protect the rich and punitive for the rest of us.
” the dentists failed to show they were harmed in the same way across the board. Some providers may have been paid differently, or not harmed at all, making the case unsuitable for a single class action.”
IMO, this begs the question of WERE some providers not harmed at all? Which ones? A judge’s declaration that “some” “may” seems to give a judicial ruling without bothering to have a trial.
If there is a data security breach somewhere… not all customers are affected equally and some aren’t affected (that they can prove) yet there can be a class action lawsuit… right?