Ormond v. Anthem, Inc. – Consumer Protection Settlement

Berger Montague served as co-lead counsel and obtained a $90 million settlement on behalf of a class of 705,000 former policyholders and members of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. (“Anthem”), a health benefits mutual insurer. The plaintiffs alleged they were paid insufficient cash compensation in connection with Anthem’s conversion from a mutual insurance company to a publicly-owned stock insurance company (a process known as “demutualization”). The case was litigated in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and captioned Ormond, et al. v. Anthem, Inc., et al., No. 1:05-cv-01908 (S.D. Ind.). Anthem, Inc. is now known as WellPoint, Inc.

The litigation arose out of the conversion of Anthem Insurance Companies from a mutual insurer to a publicly-owned stock insurance company in November 2001, and the related initial public offering (“IPO”) of stock in its parent, Anthem, Inc. The plaintiffs, all of whom received cash compensation from the IPO in exchange for the extinguishment of their owner-membership interests in the converted mutual company, claimed that they should have received a greater amount of cash; and in particular, that the defendants had breached their fiduciary duties and were negligent in setting the price of the IPO shares, which price determined the amount of cash received by the policyholder-members.

At the time, the proposed conversion by Anthem Insurance Companies was a historic event in the insurance industry – both in Indiana and nationwide – because Anthem Insurance Companies was the fifth-largest health insurance company in the country to demutualize, and the first health insurer in Indiana to convert from a mutual insurance company to a stock insurance company.

The class claims were settled after extensive litigation and on the eve of trial.

If you have been the victim of consumer fraud or deceptive business practices, or believe that a company has breached its contract with you or breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing, please contact Berger Montague.

About Berger Montague

Berger Montague is a national law firm focusing on complex civil litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States. For over half a century, Berger Montague has played lead roles in consequential, precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.