Attorneys Representing Business and Insurers Available to Discuss Affordable Care Act Decision
Date: 6/22/2012
What: DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar has experts available to speak about the impact of the Supreme Court case decision U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, otherwise known as Obama care or the Affordable Care Act.
Who: DRI First Vice President Mike Weston is an insurance law expert with more than 30 years experience. As a founding member of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, based Lederer Weston Craig PLC, Mr. Weston specializes in insurance coverage, product liability, commercial litigation, tort defense, and bad faith litigation. Mr. Weston graduated from the University of Iowa in 1977 and went on to receive his J.D. in 1980. That same year he was admitted to the Bar and has been admitted to the U.S. District Courts in Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa, as well as the Northern District of Illinois. He has also been admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Weston was named an Iowa Super Lawyer and serves as DRI’s First Vice President.
DRI Past President and Senior Advisor Marc Williams is the managing partner in Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough’s West Virginia office. He has first chair responsibility for more than 100 jury trials and appeals in his career in both state and federal court. Mr. Williams practice includes experience in the trial and appellate levels of class actions and other mass torts, as well as complex commercial litigation, employment disputes, toxic torts, consumer fraud, drug and medical device litigation, intellectual property and trade secrets, and environmental claims. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in 11 categories.
DRI Member Bruce Cranner is a partner of Frilot LLC in New Orleans, where he is an experienced litigator in the firm’s medical malpractice and health care practice areas. Mr. Cranner is best known for his work in complex and complicated health care cases, serving both as a litigator and as an advisor for clients ranging from physicians and hospitals to long term care facilities. He is a past chair of DRI’s Medical Liability and Health Care Law Committee, a former member of the DRI Board of Directors, and current chair of DRI’s Medicare Secondary Payer Task Force. Mr. Cranner has published numerous articles and book chapters and serves as a contributing author of DRI’s Defense Practitioners’ Guide to Medicare Secondary Payer Issues.
DRI Member Robert R. Pohls of Pohls & Associates in Walnut Creek, California, has been helping to shape California insurance law for more than 22 years. He has successfully litigated insurance cases in virtually every state and federal courthouse in California, earning a national reputation for his distinctive ability to achieve favorable outcomes in disputes that involve challenging facts or novel legal questions. His practice is focused on the defense of bad faith, ERISA and other complex forms of litigation involving life, health, disability and long term care insurance.
Why: The United State Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. In this case, several questions arise—specifically:
- Does the Anti-Injunction Act, which states that no lawsuits may be maintained “for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax,” bar this case?
- Under the Act, all Americans are required with limited exception to hold health care coverage. Failing to do so could result in a penalty from the IRS. Does Congress have the right to assess this penalty?
- If the minimum coverage provision—the individual mandate—is declared unconstitutional, can it be separated from the rest of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or will the entire Act be declared unconstitutional?
- The Act expands Medicaid eligibility, allowing those with an income beyond 133 percent of the federal poverty level to receive assistance. Is it constitutional to require states to accept this additional cost burden as a condition of continued federal Medicaid funding?
When: immediate and ongoing
Note to media: The Supreme Court decision is unknown but is anticipated Monday, June 25th. To contact the attorneys noted above please contact Tracy Schorle directly at 312-698-6276, tschorle@dri.org or via cell at 708-828-0299 afterhours or on weekends.
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