WHAT THIS CASE IS ABOUT
The Montana District Court and Supreme Court have ruled New West Health Services owes monetary recoveries to many people it insured for medical costs between 2002 and 2013. The amounts owed will range from a few hundred dollars to over $100,000, depending on the circumstances. Information concerning who qualifies is set forth below.
WHO IS QUALIFIED
Two conditions create eligibility:
You were insured by a New West health insurance plan at any time between January 2002 and January 2013; and
During this time period, you or a family member incurred injuries and medical costs caused by another person’s or company’s fault (e.g., automobile accidents, slips and fall; dangerous consumer products; medical malpractice or other types of claims for injury).
If you or a family member satisfy these two conditions, you are eligible to make a claim that may result in a large recovery of money.
No financial obligations will be incurred by those making claims. Litigation and attorney fees will be paid through New West and/or will be recovered as a portion of the amount due.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU QUALIFY
You must submit a written claims form to qualify. Written claims forms were initially mailed out in 2020 to everyone who was insured through New West during the applicable time period. If you did not receive a form or did not mail it back, you can do so now by downloading a copy of the prepaid claims form from the document section of this website. Mail or send it back immediately.
In addition, we are also attempting to contact potential class members by mail, email and sometimes through telephone calls. However, to safeguard your eligibility, please make sure you return a prepaid claims form immediately.
There will be a cutoff date so act immediately. The Court has ruled that people who fail to mail back claims forms within a reasonable amount of time may forfeit their right to receive a monetary recovery. Therefore, please take action as soon as possible.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU SUBMIT A CLAIM
A class administrator will contact you. The administrator will need to verify you meet all requirements. You will be asked about the amount of medical costs which you incurred as a result of getting injured and how we can document those amounts. The amount of recovery will depend on how much of your medical bills were paid by New West and how much was paid by the insurance company of the person who injured you or through other insurance you carried.
The lawsuit is ongoing. Although the Courts have already determined New West must pay, New West and its insurance company have only set aside a partial payment. The Courts are still in the process of resolving how much additional money they will have to contribute. To keep track of Court proceedings, review the “updates,” which are set forth below and in other parts of this website.
The claims will be resolved after further notice and instructions to you. When the Courts resolve how much New West and its insurance company are responsible to pay, those who have made claims shall be notified; instructed about their legal rights; and the claims will be resolved.
If the administrator does not contact you or if you need additional information, call either Elayne at 406-431-1074 or Braeden at Morrison, Sherwood, Wilson and Deola at 406-442-3261.
Your private and medical information will be protected by federal and state law. The Court has issued an order that any medical information collected to establish your claim can only be used for purposes legitimately related to the lawsuit and disclosures shall be governed and protected by federal law, commonly referred to as HIPAA. A copy of the Judge’s Order can be found here. Montana state law similarly protects medical records.
Personal information is protected by the attorney-client privilege which exists between the lawyers (who have been appointed by the Court) and the class members (who are considered “clients.”). Lawyers are required to keep their clients’ information private, except as the information is needed to conduct the lawsuit or as otherwise ordered by the Court.
This website is authorized by the Court, supervised by counsel. This is the only authorized website for this case.
UPDATES
UPDATE: March 4, 2025
As you know from previous posts, we have petitioned the Court to revoke the inadequate settlement because we believe it was obtained through fraud. All the legal briefs have been submitted to the Court and can be found here. We are waiting for the judge to rule. He is quite busy so this may take months, hopefully, only a few months.
We have also filed a separate lawsuit against the persons we believe are responsible for the fraud. A copy of the complaint can be found here. Again, we are waiting for the judge to make preliminary rulings so we can proceed.
We have complained to the Court that we believe New West and those who control it have destroyed documents, including documents needed for us to determine the full amount of money you, class members, are entitled to. This is also preventing us from finding everyone who is entitled to recover and how much. Eventually, we will file a formal request for the Court to act, but we don’t want to overload him right now so he can devote his time to making a ruling on what we believe is a fraudulently obtained settlement.
We welcome any comments or questions about this long, drawn-out case. We believe we have done everything we can to bring it to a successful close, but the roadblocks we keep running into are described in these posts. You can also find the three Montana Supreme Court cases dealing with this dating back to 2013 on the internet.
For questions and comments, please email elayne@thuesonlawoffice.com. By emailing, we then will have your email address so we can correspond with you about the case, as well as passing information through this website.
Thank you all for your patience.
Sincerely,
Class Counsel
UPDATE: January 20, 2024
The district judge recently ruled on several important issues, which have been pending since 2022. His Opinion and Order can be reviewed by clicking here. By and large, the rulings were favorable.
The Judge stated it would permit the class to sue Allied World Assurance Company, which insured New West for liability, for bad faith insurance practices which have side-tracked and delayed this case now for over a decade.
The Judge stated it will hold an evidentiary hearing to determine whether or not New West committed fraud by misrepresenting its financial condition to obtain an unfair and inadequate settlement. If the class prevails on this issue, which is likely, we should be able to obtain several millions of dollars to provide a full or almost full monetary recovery for every class member.
On the other hand, the Judge made several rulings which were unfavorable, but are eventually appealable to the Montana Supreme Court which can then rule in our favor. These include a ruling New West’s insurer, Allied World, does not owe $3,000,000 in coverage. It also includes a ruling that New West and Allied do not have to pay the class’s attorneys for work on some of the issues in the case.
The Judge ruled that potential class members have until August 1, 2024 to identify themselves and make a claim for monetary recovery. Anyone making a claim after that date will probably not be allowed to recover, although there are narrow exceptions.
As a potential or actual class member, it is essential that you cooperate with our staff when they contact you. If you have any questions about your eligibility, you can contact Elayne.
Other News: The attorneys for the class are using their staffs to contact people who may be entitled to a monetary recovery and to assist these people in perfecting their claims. A third-party company, Kroll Settlement Administration, was previously performing these duties, but we believe considerable money and time can be saved by performing the work “in-house” so to speak. The “What Happens After You Submit a Claim” portion of this website, above, has been modified accordingly.
UPDATE: June 1, 2023
Two main objectives are being pursued: (1) Continued identification of class members; and (2) continued efforts to identify additional sources for paying money to class members.
Approximately 4,000 people have returned claims forms indicating they may be eligible for monetary recovery. In addition, approximately another 100 class members have been identified through New West’s subrogation list.
Follow-up email notices to identify additional information were largely unsuccessful and therefore, those administering the class are now telephoning these potential members. The calls have been successful in identifying some of those fully qualified to share in the recovery. Additional telephone contacts will continue throughout the summer of 2023 to identify others who qualify.
These administration efforts have required over $100,000, leaving less than a million dollars in the trust fund to pay all eligible class members. This is an inadequate amount to fully compensate those entitled to recovery. Therefore, the class’s lawyers continue to pursue additional sources of recovery. Legal motions to gain additional insurance coverage through New West’s liability carrier have been filed and argued. The Court, however, has not yet made any rulings.
A new development occurred this year: The class’s lawyers discovered evidence New West may have misrepresented its financial status to avoid its legal obligation to pay the class. Specifically, between 2017 and 2020, New West had made representations to counsel and the Court that it was basically insolvent and therefore, unable to compensate the class. Earlier this year, however, class counsel discovered evidence indicating New West actually had several million dollars to compensate the class. Instead of making that money available, New West distributed those funds to its owners when it went out of business in 2021.
Therefore, class counsel is now seeking a legal remedy against New West and its owners to recover the money New West apparently paid to its owners rather than to meet its legal obligation to the class. The class’s legal motion and brief can be reviewed by clicking this link.
In summary, the class’s representatives continue to identify class members and pursue legal avenues to obtain adequate funds to fully compensate them. It will take additional time, but they hope to achieve these twin objectives.
UPDATE: August 23, 2022
Since the case was remanded to the lower court earlier this year for further proceedings, Class counsel has done or will be doing the following:
1. Made several requests ("motions"). The primary purpose of these motions has been to obtain money to pay for the class members' monetary recoveries. The subject matters of the motions and a hyperlink where you can find the motions are listed below:
(a) Motion to Conduct Further Proceedings to obtain the $3,000,000 coverage set forth in the Errors and Omissions Policy defendant New West Health Services had with Allied World Assurance Company. Allied contends only $1,000,000 in coverage is available. The class representative contends $3,000,000 is available to pay for class members' losses.
(b) Motion to Amend the lawsuit to include bad faith claims against New West's insurer, Allied World Assurance Company. We believe the reason there has been over a decade of delay in obtaining recoveries for class members has been the bad faith and unfair dealing of Allied World Assurance Company in the way it conducted itself during the course of the lawsuit. Therefore, we have requested that the Court allow us to sue Allied World on behalf of the Class.
(c) Motions that Allied pay for attorney fees and costs. We have asked the Court to order that Allied pay at least some of the Class's attorney fees and costs because of its bad faith and unfair practices it has engaged in over the court of the lawsuit.
(d) Miscellaneous motions to obtain further information from Allied World concerning its claim files. This should document Allied's conduct or misconduct during the course of this lawsuit.
2. Contacting potential class members to obtain additional information. The motions above will take time to resolve. In the meantime, the class administrator will be sending class members an additional request for information. This information should help document your claims and thus, eligibility fir monetary recovery. It is important that you promptly respond.
3. Retaining additional attorneys to pursue actions against New West's liability carrier, Allied World Assurance Company. The lawsuit against Allied World is expected to take time to resolve and will require considerable attorney representation. Therefore, Class counsel has added the following attorneys to the team:
John Morrison, P.O. Box 557, Helena, MT 59624
Scott Peterson, P.O. Box 557, Helena, MT 59624
Class counsel will be requesting that the Court approve these attorneys. They both have experience in class action lawsuits and should increase the probability that we can obtain monetary recovery.
4. Future court proceedings. Once we obtain rulings from the Court this fall, we will be able to proceed with the case, including a "fairness" hearing which will allow you to provide comments and objections to any settlement or other resolution of this lawsuit. You will receive a written notice providing you with the details of these future proceedings.
5. CONTACT US. You can use the "Contact" form on this website to send us an email or call 1-833-913-4212 and speak to an operator.
UPDATE: March 23, 2022
On March 8, 2022, the Montana Supreme Court denied the Class's petition for a rehearing and remanded to the lower court for further proceedings. Class counsel has requested a hearing to schedule future proceedings, including eventually, a hearing where all class members will be entitled to provide their input. Court documents, including the petition for a rehearing and the Montana Supreme Court orders related thereto are provided.
UPDATE: February 2, 2022
On January 5, 2022, the Montana Supreme Court finally made its decision regarding the existence and amount of insurance available to pay class members. Unfortunately, the Court opined that only the $1,000,000 policy limit applied and not the $3,000,000 limit. See, Opinion. This essentially means there will not be adequate insurance proceeds to fully compensate class members.
We are, however, requesting a rehearing as we believe the Supreme Court misinterpreted and misapplied prior law. See, Petition for Rehearing. The defendant insurer, Allied Insurance, has responded. See, Response. We await a decision which we expect in the next few months.
The website will be updated when the Supreme Court makes its final decision. Further court proceedings will be necessary in the lower court before we know what can be done. You will then receive another written notice which will allow you to provide your input.
For detailed information, the following court documents are provided for your review.
Supreme Court’s Opinion dated 1/5/22;
Plaintiffs/Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing dated 1/18/22; and
Allied World’s Objections to Petition dated 1/21/22.