Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Summary Judgment for Compass Lexecon Client

On June 9, 2017, in an opinion authored by Judge Richard A. Posner, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment to Compass Lexecon’s client, OSF HealthCare Systems (d/b/a St. Francis Medical Center), on all claims of monopolization leveled against it by cross-town rival Methodist Health Services Corp.

Compass Lexecon Senior Consultant Professor Robert D. Willig testified that OSF did not use market power to force commercial payers to accept inefficient narrow networks as the Plaintiff claimed. Professor Willig explained that OSF’s negotiations with payers over combinations of prices and the designs of provider networks were part of a healthy competitive process. The Seventh Circuit agreed. Professor Willig also provided a series of analyses demonstrating that Methodist was not foreclosed from competing in any relevant market. The Seventh Circuit agreed with this conclusion too.

Professor Willig was supported by a Compass Lexecon team led by Loren Smith that included Jay Ezrielev, Jeffrey Raileanu, Genaro Marquez, Sahdia Kahn, and Benjamin Spulber.

Compass Lexecon Senior Consultant Meg Guerin-Calvert served as OSF’s damages expert, providing an assessment of damages claims put forth by Plaintiffs’ economic expert. Guerin-Calvert was supported by a team led by Susan Manning. Compass Lexecon worked closely with the Pepper Hamilton LLP legal team led by Barbara T. Sicalides, that included Barak A. Bassman, TJ Griffin, and Benjamin J. Eichel.