Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna will defer to Indianapolis-based Anthem in its appeal of the judge's decision to block the payers' proposed $54 billion merger, according to a March 2 court filing.
Under the terms of the payers' original merger agreement, Anthem "is responsible for developing and leading the antitrust strategy, among other things," according to Cigna's filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals. "In accordance with the merger agreement, Cigna has appealed, and defers to Anthem."
Cigna's filing comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia expedited Anthem's appeal of a district court's order to block the proposed merger. That order arrived two days after a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled in favor of Anthem, momentarily banning Cigna from motioning to unilaterally end the payers' agreement.
The D.C. circuit court set the oral arguments for the appeal case for March 24, roughly one month before the insurers' merger agreement deadline of April 30.
This article was updated on March 7 at 9:04 p.m. CT.