Two Jones Day defense verdicts named among best in California for 2022 by Daily Journal
Two verdicts won by Jones Day have been recognized by the Daily Journal among its "Top Defense Verdicts of 2022 in California."
Jones Day represented Sutter Health and secured a complete defense verdict in a class action seeking more than $1.2 billion in treble damages (Sidibe et al. v. Sutter Health, Case No. 3:12-cv-04854 (N.D. Cal.)). Filed on behalf of a class of 3 million individuals and businesses, the plaintiffs alleged that Sutter used market power to force insurers to include all Sutter hospitals in their networks and to agree to terms that prevented steering patients to non-Sutter hospitals, all of which resulted in higher prices to the insurers and higher insurance premiums. After a five-week trial, the jury unanimously rejected all the plaintiffs' claims. Among the largest antitrust class actions ever to be tried against a hospital system, the verdict confirms that health care providers can require insurers to give them an opportunity to evaluate whether to participate in health plan networks, and to ensure that they do not interfere with the ability to provide coordinated patient care.
In addition, Jones Day successfully defended California Stem Cell Treatment Center, Inc. (CSCTC) against an FDA enforcement action that began in 2018 (United States of America v. California Stem Cell Treatment Center, Inc., et al., Case No. 5:18-CV-01005-JGB-KK (C.D. Cal.)). The FDA alleged that CSCTC's cutting-edge treatment was the unlawful manufacture of a drug. After a two-week bench trial, the court wholly rejected the FDA's arguments, concluding that the FDA overreached its authority and that the personal stem cell treatments were not drug-manufacturing, but rather medical procedures. Recognizing a person's ability to utilize their own stem cells as part of medical treatment when the procedure is performed by a licensed physician, this case preserved a person's right to bodily autonomy, the practice of medicine by licensed physicians, and curtailed the FDA's attempted overreach.
