The property management company, Whitehall, Pa.-based Royal Mile Co., filed an antitrust lawsuit in 2010 alleging UPMC and Pittsburgh-based Highmark conspired to allow their for-profit subsidiaries to overcharge customers for premiums by keeping competing insurers out of the local market.
UPMC and Royal Mile entered into a tentative $12.5 million settlement agreement Jan. 28. On Feb. 19, UPMC filed a complaint for declaratory judgment in Pennsylvania federal court, arguing United Educators should pay the entire settlement amount.
Since 2013, the liability insurance company said it didn’t owe coverage for the 2010 lawsuit. UPMC disputes that claim in its recent court filing, arguing the Royal Mile case is included in the same claim as an antitrust lawsuit brought by Pittsburgh-based West Penn Allegheny Health System against UPMC in 2009.
“Based upon the plain similarities between the WPAHS and Royal Mile complaints, all of UPMC’s underlying insurers in its 2008 to 2009 tower of insurance, except UE, rightly concluded that the WPAHS suit and the Royal Mile suit are the same claims, first filed in [the] 2008 policy period,” says UPMC in its complaint for declaratory judgment.
UPMC stands to avoid paying the $12.5 million out of pocket to settle the Royal Mile case if the court agrees and if the settlement is accepted.
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