JPML Creates Federal Docket for Delta Dental Antitrust Litigation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has created a federal docket for actions accusing insurers operating under the Delta Dental name of suppressing competition and fixing provider reimbursement rates in violation of the Sherman Act.

In a March 27 order, the panel transferred the 14 pending actions to the U.S. District for the Northern District of Illinois for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings and tapped Judge Elaine E. Bucklo to oversee the docket. The panel noted that half of the related actions are pending in that district.

The panel found the actions “involve common questions of fact, …