CHICAGO – Belleville chiropractor Robert Meinders must arbitrate a claim he filed as a class action, U.S. Seventh Circuit appellate judges ruled on July 30.
They affirmed District Judge Staci Yandle, who approved the court clerk’s entry of judgment against Meinders last September.
As a practical matter they affirmed former district judge David Herndon, who ordered arbitration twice.
Meinders alleges that United Health Care, which processed and paid more than 6,000 claims for him, violated Illinois law by sending a fax he didn’t ask for.
Phillip Bock of Chicago filed the complaint in St. Clair County circuit court in 2014.
United Health Care removed it to district court, asserting diverse citizenship as a Minnesota citizen.
United Health Care moved to dismiss for improper venue, claiming its contract with Meinders required arbitration of disputes in Minnesota.
Meinders had signed the contract with American Chiropractic Network, which assigned its rights and obligations to United Health Care.
Meinders claimed United didn’t assume the arbitration provision.
Herndon dismissed the complaint and Meinders appealed.
Seventh Circuit judges reversed him in 2015, finding he entered judgment on law and facts to which Meinders didn’t have an opportunity to respond.
They left open the question of whether United assumed the provision.
Bock added subsidiaries as defendants in 2016, and defendants moved to dismiss.
Herndon dismissed United Health Care and stayed proceedings against the subsidiaries pending arbitration.
Meinders appealed again.
Resolution took four years, and Seventh Circuit judges resolved it without affirming Herndon or reversing him.
In June 2020, they found they lacked jurisdiction because they didn’t allow appeals of orders to arbitrate.
They found their first ruling achieved its purpose of allowing Meinders to contest United Health Care’s evidence.
By then Herndon had retired, and the clerk assigned Yandle.
She asked for a status report and received a stipulation of dismissal instead.
She approved the clerk’s entry of judgment, and Meinders appealed that.
Seventh Circuit judges decided what Herndon decided seven years ago, that United Health Care assumed the arbitration provision.
They found United Health Care’s conduct over the course of its relations with Meinders demonstrated that it did.
Circuit Judge Thomas Kirsch wrote, “This conduct by United makes sense.
“United agreed in its master services agreement with American Chiropractic Network to perform American Chiropractic Network’s provider agreement obligations.”
Circuit judges Daniel Manion and Amy St. Eve concurred.
Last year’s stipulation showed Bob Sprague of Belleville as counsel to Meinders, though Sprague doesn’t appear on the docket.
Lawyers of the Hogan Lovells firm in Washington and Minneapolis represent United Health Care.