Cases

The Western District of Texas partially adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation in a large reimbursement dispute between out-of-network emergency providers and multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield entities. The court dismissed the patient claims for lack of standing, holding that valid assignments transferred their rights to the provider plaintiffs, making the providers the sole real parties in interest. The court also rejected personal jurisdiction over out-of-state “Home Plan” insurers, finding no agency relationship with BCBS Texas under the BlueCard Program and declining to apply pendent personal jurisdiction. As a result, breach of contract claims against those defendants were dismissed without prejudice. However, ERISA claims and certain contract claims against other defendants survived.