Stuart M. Gerson, a Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Health Care & Life Sciences practices, in the firm’s Washington, DC, and New York offices, was quoted in the Bloomberg BNA Health Care Daily Report, in “Possible Class Action Gamechanger Opens High Court’s Term,” by Mary Anne Pazanowski, Matthew Loughran and Eric Topor. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
Oral argument on labor, class action, and arbitration issues in a case that could have a big impact on health-care industry employers kicks off the U.S. Supreme Court’s new season Oct. 2.
The court in that case will consider whether arbitration agreements that prohibit employees from pursuing class or collective actions are unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and unenforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Health-care employers are watching the case closely because they are on the front lines of unionization efforts. …
The Epic Systems decision also will help the health-care industry “take the court’s temperature” regarding the scope of class action litigation, Stuart M. Gerson told Bloomberg BNA. Gerson, a member of Epstein Becker Green PC’s Health Care and Life Sciences practice in Washington. Gerson was acting U.S. attorney general during the early years of President William J. Clinton’s administration. Before that, he served in the administration of President George H.W. Bush’s as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division.
The Supreme Court has been “skeptical” about class actions for the past few terms, Gerson said. The court in recent years has been narrowing the circumstances under which such litigation can proceed.
A petition “about to be filed” in a health-care case will test the extent of that skepticism, Gerson said. In Attias v. CareFirst, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said victims of a health-care data breach could sue the health insurer whose negligence allegedly led to the breach.
