Plaintiff Files Third Amended Antitrust Claim Against Highmark

A long running antitrust dispute in Western Pennsylvania continued on October 1, when a Pennsylvania hotel (Cole's Wexford Hotel) filed a third amended antitrust class action complaint against Highmark, the largest commercial health insurer in Western Pennsylvania, and UPMC, the largest health system in the area. The complaint alleges that Highmark and UPMC reached an unlawful agreement to exclude other insurers from entering the market, increasing the cost for health insurance in the region.

The case, Royal Mile v. UPMC, has already been pending for over four years in the Western District of Pennsylvania. Prior versions of the complaint have been dismissed by District Judge Joy Flowers Conti on the grounds that the plaintiffs' challenge was barred by the "Filed Rate Doctrine," an antitrust doctrine that prohibits a plaintiff from raising an antitrust challenge to rates that have been approved by a regulator. Judge Conti held that because the rates charged by Highmark