Practice Areas

Class Action

Class Action

Cooper and Kirk has extensive experience in litigating class actions in a wide variety of contexts. These representations include:

Issue
Class Action against 36 Blue Cross Blue Shield Entities

Overview We represent subscriber plaintiffs in a class action against the individual Blue Cross Blue Shield entities and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The plaintiffs in this multidistrict class action litigation, which was first filed in 2012, allege that the BCBS entities unlawfully agreed to allocate exclusive territorial markets in which they sell Blue-branded health insurance and to cap the amount of unbranded health insurance they can offer. Cooper & Kirk served on the Plaintiffs’ steering committee and chaired the written submissions committee. In 2020, the parties entered into a historic settlement, obtaining a $2.6 billion in damages—the largest settlement award ever in an antitrust class action—as well as significant pro-competitive injunctive relief. The motion for final approval of the settlement is currently pending before the Northern District of Alabama.
Overview We represent victims of the 2013 and 2014 breaches of OPM’s data network, a catastrophic network security failure that exposed the private information of more than 21 million federal workers. We brought suit against the Government and its contractor on behalf of a putative class of injured federal workers, alleging claims under the Privacy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, state consumer protection laws, and theories of negligence, breach of contract, and invasion of privacy. After the district court dismissed the case, the D.C. Circuit reversed and held that the case could move forward.

Issue
Class Action - Below Market Wages
Level of Court
US Court of Appeals - DC Circuit

Overview We represented a nationwide class of medical residents who sued their employers for setting salaries at below market wages in violation of the federal antitrust laws. The district court rejected the defendant’s motion to dismiss. Congress then amended the antitrust laws to bless the program our clients were challenging.

Issue
Class Action - Access to Potential Miracle Cure for Hepatitis C
Level of Court
US District Court - North District of Illinois

Overview We represented a class of individuals afflicted with Hepatitis C whose healthcare insurer denied them access to a new drug that would cure for their disease. We obtained a settlement seeking to facilitate the ability of every member of the class to access this cure.

Issue
Class Action - Pennsylvania Hospitals Seeking Reimbursement for the care of uninsured patients
Level of Court
US District Court - Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Overview We represent a class of hospitals seeking to recover millions of dollars of payments from a state fund established to reimburse hospitals for a portion of the costs incurred to provide charity care to Pennsylvania’s sickest uninsured patients. We allege that the class members were improperly underpaid because other hospitals inflated their qualifying expenses to recover a larger portion of the finite pot of money available to cover charity care. The district court dismissed the case, but the Third Circuit reversed.

Issue
Class Action - Sears' Bankruptcy Collection Procedures
Level of Court
US Court of Appeals - Fifth Circuit

Overview We represented a group of plaintiffs in the Fifth Circuit in a class action lawsuit against Sears, challenging Sears’ bankruptcy collection procedures as contrary to numerous federal laws. On remand, the case settled.