United States v. Anthem, Inc.
- Andrew Carter
- 1:20-cv-02593
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In United States v. Anthem, Inc., Judge Parker granted in part Anthem’s request for discovery briefing and ordered three-page statements before the conference.
The United States and Anthem, Inc. were affected as the parties to the discovery dispute. They were ordered to file three-page, single-spaced position statements by August 15, 2023, and to continue meeting and conferring.
What happened
In United States v. Anthem, Inc., Anthem asked the court to require the United States to produce about 20,000 documents from an earlier related case involving similar Medicare Advantage business practices. Anthem also sought a deadline for producing those documents and other materials.
The parties had discussed the dispute but had not resolved it. Anthem requested separate position statements of up to five pages single-spaced or ten pages double-spaced. The United States proposed shorter, three-page letter briefs if the dispute remained.
Judge Katharine H. Parker granted in part Anthem’s request for briefing. She ordered the parties to file three-page, single-spaced position statements by August 15, 2023, and directed them to continue meeting and conferring before the August 22 conference.
The detailed version
- United States v. Anthem, Inc. · No. 1:20-cv-02593
- Andrew Carter
- July 31, 2023
Background
The filing concerns a discovery dispute in the case. Anthem asked the court to address the dispute at the case management conference scheduled for August 22, 2023.
Anthem sought approximately 20,000 documents that the United States had been ordered to produce in an earlier related proceeding. Those documents had initially been withheld based on the deliberative-process privilege, a protection for certain government decision-making materials. Anthem stated that the earlier proceeding involved alleged False Claims Act violations by another Medicare Advantage organization based on the same business practices at issue in this lawsuit. The United States objected to producing the documents in this case.
Anthem also asked for a deadline for producing the approximately 20,000 documents and other materials from the earlier proceeding that the United States had already agreed to produce. The parties had exchanged written communications and met by telephone several times but had not resolved the dispute.
Positions on Briefing
Anthem requested permission for each party to file a separate position statement on August 15, one week before the case management conference. It requested a limit of five pages single-spaced or ten pages double-spaced, stating that the dispute involved substantial procedural history and legal and regulatory issues.
The United States said it intended to continue meeting and conferring to determine whether the parties could resolve the issues without court intervention. If a dispute remained, it opposed ten-page briefs and proposed three single-spaced pages of letter briefing.
Order
Judge Katharine H. Parker granted in part Anthem’s request for briefing. The parties were ordered to file three-page, single-spaced position statements by August 15, 2023. The court stated that it would discuss the discovery dispute at the August 22 conference and directed the parties to continue meeting and conferring. The parties were also required to update the court through the agenda letter if they no longer needed to address the dispute.
The order addressed the format and timing of briefing; it did not decide whether the United States must produce the disputed documents.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.