McDonald Hopkins Secures Significant Partial Summary Judgment Victory for Mississippi Specialty Pharmacy:

This Mississippi Chancery Court Case will Serve as Valuable Precedent

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Nov 03, 2010, 03:57 ET

CHICAGO, Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Vital Care of Meridian, a franchise of Vital Care Inc., ("Vital Care") has won a significant partial summary judgment motion in a matter against the Mississippi State and School Employees' Life and Health Plan (the "Plan"), a state insurance plan that covers certain state employees, and its pharmacy benefit manager ("PBM"). The lawsuit is currently in progress on remaining issues, but a major issue in the lawsuit was whether Mississippi's "Any Willing Provider" statute ("Statute") applies to the Plan. The Plan and the PBM awarded sole provider status for specialty pharmacy services to a single specialty pharmacy, to the exclusion of Vital Care and other specialty pharmacies in Mississippi. The Plan and its PBM argued that the Statute did not apply to them for a variety of reasons, but those arguments were rejected by the Mississippi Chancery Court. It is thought that this case will likely serve as precedent for several other similar cases across the country.

The ruling described in this news release should not create an expectation about the nature of any future result that McDonald Hopkins can achieve.

About McDonald Hopkins

With more than 130 attorneys in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm focused on business law, litigation, business restructuring, labor and employment, government affairs, healthcare, and estate planning. The president of McDonald Hopkins is Carl J. Grassi. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com.