Chiropractor clients of the Lakin Law Firm routinely require insurers to answer intrusive questions. Now, an insurer has turned the tables.
On Dec. 11, Madison County Circuit Judge Daniel Stack ordered Lakin client Frank Bemis to answer questions that Employers Mutual Casualty asked in November.
Bemis and companies belonging to him seek to pursue a class action against Employers Mutual, claiming it improperly reduced payouts on workers compensation claims.
Employers Mutual persuaded Stack that it needed answers in advance of a Feb. 11 hearing on a Lakin motion to certify a class action.
Employers Mutual sought 113 answers, and Stack granted 18 while denying the other 95 without prejudice.
Bemis sued Employers Mutual in 2005, just ahead of the effective date of the national Class Action Fairness Act that steered most new class actions to federal courts.
He claimed Employers Mutual reaped the benefits of preferred provider organizations, or PPOs, without keeping a commitment to refer patients to providers.
Bemis and other local chiropractors had filed many Madison County class actions through the Lakin firm since 2003.
His complaint stated that he did business as Frank Bemis and Associates.
Lakin lawyer Jeff Millar amended the complaint this July, adding Frank C. Bemis and Associates, Chiropractors, as a plaintiff.
The subtle change made a big difference, for Employers Mutual immediately filed a third party complaint against software vendor Fair Isaac.
Employers Mutual quoted contract language holding Fair Isaac responsible for any billing errors.
Employers Mutual then asked Stack for permission to propound interrogatories on the new plaintiff beyond the normal limit of 30.
Attorney Thomas Pender of Chicago wrote that it was unrealistic and unfair to argue class certification with a plaintiff who had never been subject to discovery.
Stack agreed, up to a point.
He ordered the new plaintiff to answer Employers Mutual's first 10 questions:
Stack also required an answer to question number 22, asking if plaintiff and Hays had a physician patient or chiropractor patient relationship.
He also required answers:
revoked.
The other 95 questions would dig a lot deeper. Stack did not allow questions that: