UnitedHealth, DaVita, Tenet Units Lose Bid to End No-Poach Case

DaVita Inc., Tenet Healthcare Corp., and UnitedHealth Group Inc. affiliates must face antitrust litigation over an alleged “no poach” pact that barred them from recruiting one another’s senior executives, though UnitedHealth itself doesn’t have to defend the case, a federal judge in Chicago ruled.

Judge Andrea R. Wood let the proposed class action move forward Monday, saying it offered enough evidence to make it plausible there was an “overarching” conspiracy among DaVita, subsidiaries of Tenet and UnitedHealth, an unidentified fourth company, and certain executives.

The ruling came about five months after DaVita and former CEO Kent Thiry were ...