Court Rules ERISA Doesn’t Preempt Lawsuit Challenging Medical Information Disclosures

A health plan participant’s lawsuit alleging that his right to privacy was violated when his plan’s subrogation vendor, Ingenix Inc., disclosed medical information while settling a subrogation claim must proceed in state court, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled March 21 (Quintana v. Lightner, N.D. Tex., 3:10-cv-00571-G, 3/21/11).

Granting Justin Quintana’s motion to remand his case to a Texas state court, Senior Judge A. Joe Fish found that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act did not completely preempt Quintana’s state law claims that his right to privacy was violated when Ingenix disclosed medical ...