Last Friday, Daniel Fisher at Forbes reported on numerous health insurers and some hospital groups filing in Philadelphia state court various papers regarding a prospective suit against the HK Porter Asbestos Trust. Further specifics and the papers are now available.
In short, there is no lawsuit as of yet, at least judging by the papers I’ve seen. Instead, the papers include a pre-suit interrogatory requesting from the HK Porter trust complete information regarding the names, address and social security numbers of all persons who have submitted claims to the HK Porter asbestos bankruptcy trust. The papers also assert that the 40 plaintiff entities intend to sue the HK Porter Trust – and unnamed others – for declaratory relief and to recover expenses incurred for treatment of persons covered by health insurance plans. The plaintiffs include Humana entities, Blue Cross entities, Arcadian entities, M.D. Care, Inc., Aetna, Inc. the Tufts Health Plan, Johns Hopkins Health Care LLC, and various other entities. The papers are online here.
Mr. Fisher’s article provides additional background information for those who want to see more of the big picture.