Illinois physicians cry foul over CIGNA settlement delay

The insurer says no final agreement in the case was reached; doctors argue that substantive issues had been resolved.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Dec. 2, 2002.

Physicians who initiated the first certified nationwide class action lawsuit against a health plan for its reimbursement practices are asking an Illinois court to enforce a settlement agreement that reportedly could mean up to $200 million for doctors.

In August, there were reports that Alton, Ill., otolaryngologist Timothy N. Kaiser, MD, and Irving, Texas, pediatrician Suzanne LeBel Corrigan, MD, had agreed to a settlement with CIGNA Corp., against which the two filed a class action lawsuit in May 2000 in state court in Madison County, Ill.

But in court documents, the physicians now say CIGNA has delayed filing the joint settlement agreement.

The physicians say the delay began when the company started discussions with lawyers representing physicians who sued CIGNA in cases moving through a federal court in Miami.

"The delay being created by CIGNA and the ... attorneys [representing physicians in the Miami cases] has created substantial, irreparable harm to potential settlement class members," according to the petitions that Drs. Kaiser and Corrigan filed with the Madison County Circuit Court, Third Judicial Circuit.

More than 400,000 physicians who contracted with CIGNA would be affected by a settlement in the Illinois case. CIGNA spokesman Wendell Potter said the company disagreed that there was a final agreement between the two sides.

In addition, when some specifics of a settlement were first detailed in August, CIGNA said there was no way it would agree to anything that would cost the company $200 million. [...]