The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Sept. 11 dismissed a lawsuit filed against Quest Diagnostics, agreeing with the trial court that the proposed class of former Quest patients didn’t meet the requirements of class certification (Grandalski v. Quest Diagnostics Inc.). Plaintiffs Richard Grandalski, Janet Grandalski, and Denise Cassese alleged that Quest overbilled patients for services by requesting payment from patients in excess of the amount allowed by insurers in the explanation of benefits. They sought damages for violations of state consumer fraud laws and for unjust enrichment. The U.S. District Court denied class certification, and the plaintiffs appealed. Consumer Fraud Claims The plaintiffs sought to certify a nationwide class based on allegations that Quest violated state consumer fraud laws. The trial court engaged in a choice-of-laws analysis and determined that the laws of each class member’s home state would determine whether he or she could recover damages from Quest. This would pose an “intractable” problem for trial management and, thus, the trial court said, made class certification inappropriate. On appeal, the plaintiffs argued that the trial court shouldn’t have engaged in a choice-of-law analysis at this stage of the proceedings. The appeals court disagreed, saying it was…
