Health Net 2007 Annual Report Download - page 139

HEALTH NET, INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)
actions brought against us by AmCare-TX and AmCare-OK originally were filed in Texas state court on June 7,
2004 and included allegations that after the sale to AmCareco we were nevertheless responsible for the
mismanagement of the three plans by AmCareco and that the three plans were insolvent at the time of the sale to
AmCareco. On September 30, 2004 and October 15, 2004, respectively, the AmCare-TX receiver and the
AmCare-OK receiver intervened in the pending AmCare-LA litigation in Louisiana. Thereafter, all three
receivers amended their complaints to assert essentially the same claims against us and successfully moved to
consolidate their three actions in the Louisiana state court proceeding. The Texas state court ultimately stayed the
Texas action and ordered that the parties submit quarterly reports to the Texas court regarding the status of the
consolidated Louisiana litigation.
On June 16, 2005, a consolidated trial of the claims asserted against us by the three receivers commenced in
state court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The claims of the receiver for AmCare-TX were tried before a jury and
the claims of the receivers for the AmCare-LA and AmCare-OK were tried before the judge in the same
proceeding. On June 30, 2005, the jury considering the claims of the receiver for AmCare-TX returned a verdict
against us in the amount of $117.4 million, consisting of $52.4 million in compensatory damages and $65 million
in punitive damages. The Court later reduced the compensatory and punitive damages awards to $36.7 million
and $45.5 million, respectively and entered judgments in those amounts on November 3, 2005. We thereafter
filed a motion for suspensive appeal and posted the required security as required by law.
The proceedings regarding the claims of the receivers for AmCare-LA and AmCare-OK concluded on
July 8, 2005. On November 4, 2005, the Court issued separate judgments on those claims that awarded $9.5
million in compensatory damages to AmCare-LA and $17 million in compensatory damages to AmCare-OK,
respectively. The Court later denied requests by AmCare-LA and AmCare-OK for attorneys’ fees and punitive
damages. We thereafter filed motions for suspensive appeals in connection with both judgments and posted the
required security as required by law, and the receivers for AmCare-LA and AmCare-OK each appealed the
orders denying them attorneys’ fees and punitive damages. Our appeals of the judgments in all three cases have
been consolidated in the Louisiana Court of Appeal. On January 17, 2007, the Court of Appeal vacated on
procedural grounds the trial court’s judgments denying the AmCare-LA and AmCare-OK claims for attorney
fees and punitive damages, and referred those issues instead to be considered with the merits of the main appeal
pending before it. The Court of Appeal also has considered and ruled on various other preliminary procedural
issues related to the main appeal. Oral argument on the appeals was held on October 4, 2007. Decisions by the
Court on the various appeals are expected to be rendered within six months of the date of oral argument.
On November 3, 2006, we filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana
and simultaneously filed an identical suit in the 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish seeking
to nullify the three judgments that were rendered against us on the grounds of ill practice which resulted in the
judgments entered. We have alleged that the judgments and other prejudicial rulings rendered in these cases were
the result of impermissible ex parté contacts between the receivers, their counsel and the trial court during the
course of the litigation. Preliminary motions and exceptions have been filed by the receivers for AmCare-TX,
AmCare-OK and AmCare-LA seeking dismissal of our claim for nullification on various grounds. The federal
magistrate, after considering the briefs of the parties, found that Health Net had a reasonable basis to infer
possible impropriety based on the facts alleged, but also found that the federal court lacked jurisdiction to hear
the nullity action and recommended that the suit be dismissed. The federal judge dismissed Health Net’s federal
complaint and Health Net has appealed to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The state court nullity action
has been stayed pending the resolution of Health Net’s jurisdictional appeal in the federal action which is
scheduled for oral argument on March 5, 2008.
We have vigorously contested all of the claims asserted against us by the plaintiffs in the consolidated
Louisiana actions since they were first filed. We intend to vigorously pursue all avenues of redress in these cases,
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