During the trial, jurors filled out a nine-question verdict form that asked whether Sutter sold inpatient hospital services that were tied to the more expensive hospital facilities and whether Sutter forced the class health plans to agree to contracts that prevented the plans from steering patients to lower-cost options.
The jury answered no to both questions, and thus no damages were owed to the class.
Sutter has faced similar allegations in the past, and in 2019, it shelled out $575 million to resolve allegations from California’s attorney general, the United Food and Commercial Workers, Employers Benefit Trust and others.
U.S. Circuit Court Judges Patrick J. Bumatay, Lucy H. Koh and Roopali H. Desai sat on the panel for the Ninth Circuit.
The purchasers are represented by Matthew L. Cantor, Jean Kim, James J. Kovacs and J. Wyatt Fore of Constantine Cannon LLP, Azra Z. Mehdi of The Mehdi Firm PC, David C. Brownstein and David M. Goldstein of Farmer Brownstein Jaeger Goldstein Klein & Siegel LLP, Allan Steyer and D. Scott Macrae of Steyer Lowenthal Boodrookas Alvarez & Smith LLP and Jill Manning of Pearson Simon & Warshaw LLP.
