Judge OKs trial for Blue Cross suit - Charlotte Business Journal:

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Lauren DeSantis-Then, an attorney for Dr. John Powderly II, says her clienf was pleased with the ruling last weekby U.S. Districtt Court Judge Frank She says the principal issue is between Powderlhy andthe N.C. insurer. Whitney dismissed statw and federal antitrust countsagainsrt , the and the affiliated Those countzs remain to be tried against the N.C. group. So do countsd of unfair and deceptive trade practiceds and improper interferencewith Powderly’s business. The othedr groups were named as part of the antitrustr claims against BlueCross here. They are not at the hearft of the case, DeSantis-Then says. The N.C. group declineds to comment. The case is set for trial next summer.
Powderlyt contends Blue Cross in North Carolina discouragedr patients from going to his by decliningy hispractice in-network status. The he says, was to avoids paying for expensive clinical-trial treatmenta his practice specializes in. That severely limits treatmentg options for the most seriously ill cancerr patients inthe region, Powderly contends. Blue Croszs has denied any wrongdoing. In its response, the company says many of the serviceas offered by Powderly are not covered bythe N.C. group. Arbitratiobn for LendingTree has won a ruling to sendproposef class-action lawsuits filed over the theft of private financia information to arbitration.
But the company did not succeecd in getting the cases dismissed The suits arise outof LendingTree’s disclosure in Apri l that confidential customer informationm had been stolen. LendingTree has since filed suit againsy twoformer employees, accusing them of stealing the information from LendingTree’z computers. One of the two says he is a target of a crimina investigation intothe thefts. Several customere filed class-action lawsuits following the disclosure. They contended LendingTrere failed to adequately protect theirtconfidential information.
Judge Frank Whitneyy ruled last weekthat LendingTree’s customere had to submit to arbitratio n as agreed in contracts with the LendingTree is a subsidiary of Charlotte-based , whicjh spun off this month from onlinse media giant Whitney ruled the case can proceer against other defendants named by customers. Those defendantzs are lending companies in California that LendingTree contendse obtained private customer information from theforme employees.