Emsurgcare v. Avery Hager

Background

Oxford Health Plans (NY), Inc. and Oxford Health Insurance, Inc. attached a 2018 health benefits plan to their motion to dismiss. They asserted that Avery Hager was a beneficiary of that plan.

Authentication issue

The defendants supported the document with a sworn declaration from their counsel. The court explained that authenticating a business record generally requires a declaration or testimony from a custodian or another qualified witness stating that the document was kept in the regular course of business and that making such records was the business’s regular practice.

Before the case was transferred from the Central District of California, the defendants had filed a declaration from Jane Stalinski, identified as United HealthCare’s “Legal Services Specialist.” That declaration accompanied a 2020 version of the health benefits plan, however, creating confusion about whether Stalinski had authenticated the 2018 Plan or the 2020 Plan. Defense counsel had previously explained that a later plan version was attached because of a system population error.

Order

The court directed Oxford Health Plans (NY), Inc. and Oxford Health Insurance, Inc. to file, by May 21, 2025, a declaration properly authenticating the 2018 plan, similar to the declaration previously filed by Stalinski. The order addressed the plan’s authentication and did not state a disposition of the motion to dismiss.