United States District Court Agrees With Elliott Greenleaf That Alleged State Law Medical Negligence Claim Against Managed Care Organization Belongs in the Federal Courts
Following the United States Supreme Court's landmark decision in Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila, 124 S.Ct. 2488 (2004), Elliott Greenleaf filed a Notice of Removal in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 20, 2004 in the case of Brown v. Wiener, M.D., et al., 04-CV-3442, thereby removing the case from state court to federal court based on the doctrine of complete preemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"). In Davila, the Supreme Court held that plaintiffs' state law medical negligence claims against health maintenance organizations based on a denial of benefits under an employee benefit plan were completely preempted by ERISA. Likewise, in this case, Plaintiff had filed a purported medical negligence suit and sought state law tort damages (including punitive damages) against the defendant based on an alleged denial of benefits under a plan administered by the defendant.
When Plaintiff moved to remand the case back to state court, Elliott Greenleaf attorneys John M. Elliott, James C. Crumlish, III, Dion G. Rassias and Kathryn M. Schilling argued on behalf of the defendant that the case properly belongs in federal court based on the doctrine of complete preemption under ERISA (which includes the preclusion of state court tort remedies). In a very significant decision that helps define the post-Davila treatment of such claims by the courts, the Honorable Legrome D. Davis, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania agreed with Elliott Greenleaf and, on September 30, 2004, issued an Order denying Plaintiff's motion to remand the case back to the state court. |
