BIRMINGHAM, AL – The Northern District of Alabama has issued an order preliminarily approving the proposed Provider Plaintiffs’ Settlement Agreement, plan for notice, and appointment of settlement notice administrator and settlement administrator.
The Court found that the Providers Class met the requisite elements for class certification. Next, the Court ruled, preliminarily, that the proposed settlement of the parties is “sufficiently fair, reasonable, and adequate on its face to warrant presentation to the class members.”
The settlement agreement includes monetary relief of 2.8 billion dollars to be paid into the Settlement Fund, and injunctive relief which entails behavioral changes on the part of the Blues. In exchange for relief, the settlement agreement requires the Provider Plaintiffs’ Class Members to release claims that made up the basis of the complaint.
The Court approved provisions allowing for Provider attorney’s fees and stated that approval was consistent with the previous approval of the similar Subscriber track settlement provisions. In addition, the deadline for Settlement Class Counsel to file Fee and Expense Application and move for appointment of a Settlement Claims Administrator is February 2, 2025.
Kenneth R. Feinberg and Camille S. Biros, two experienced individuals in the field of settlement compensation programs, collaborated with other experts and provider representatives to formulate a plan of distribution to determine a fair and adequate allocation of the Net Settlement Fund among the Provider Class Members. The Court gave preliminary approval of the proposed plan of distribution.
The Prover Plaintiffs proposed to appoint Special Master Ed Gentle as Settlement Administrator. Mr. Gentle has been intimately involved in the entirety of this case, as well as other large-scale cases. Mr. Gentle has experience as a mediator, special master, settlement trustee, and claims administrator in mass tort actions. The Court approved Mr. Gentle as claims administrator based on its history working with Mr. Gentle in other MDLs and his ample qualifications.
The Court approved BrownGreer PLC, a firm with substantial experience in settlement administration, as the Settlement Notice Administrator. The Court set a deadline requiring the Settlement Notice Administrator to complete Class Notice by January 3, 2025. The order provides that BrownGreer shall, within 21 days of the entry of the preliminary approval order, begin to email notices to potential Class Members with valid email addresses.
The settlement website will be included on all forms of notice and can be found at www.BCBSprovidersettlement.com. In addition to the website, BrownGreer has also set up various ways for Class Members to communicate with and seek information about the settlement during the notice period, including a toll-free number, an email inbox with an automated function to provide FAQ information and an option to connect to a live agent, and a settlement post office box to retain physical mail related to the program. The Court found that the proposed methods of notice are adequate, and the claims forms are reasonable; thus, the proposed Notice Plan was preliminarily approved.
Class Members must opt out of the settlement or object to the settlement by March 4, 2025. The Court ordered the Settlement Class Counsel to file the Final Approval Motions by April 23, 2025. The Court’s preliminary approval of the settlement is subject to the Final Fairness Hearing on July 29, 2025. All claims must be filed by July 16, 2025.
Background: Robert B. Roden, Esq. is a member of the Litigation Committee for the Provider Plaintiffs. He, along with David D. Shelby, Esq. and C. Don Freeman, Esq., and their law firm Shelby Roden LLC, have worked on behalf of Providers from the beginning of this case in 2012.