Trial for Aetna-Humana merger set to begin Dec. 5
The antitrust lawsuit against Aetna’s proposed acquisition of Humana won’t be settled as early as the insurer had hoped. A federal judge set a trial date of Dec. 5, with the decision to come after the year-end deadline to close the deal.
Aetna had requested a two-week trial beginning in October, citing the Dec. 31 deadline in its merger agreement with Humana. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had asked for a trial date as late as February 2017.
U.S. District Judge John Bates instead chose a date between the two requested time frames, saying he had been somewhat convinced by the DOJ’s stance that an accelerated schedule was both unfair to its side and unnecessary because the two companies could extend their merger deadline.
The trial would wrap up by Dec. 21. Bates said he couldn’t promise to make a ruling by the end of the year, instructing both sides to go forward with the “expectation” of a ruling by mid to late January 2017.
Under the current contract terms, if the deal isn’t closed by Dec. 31, Humana could opt out of the merger agreement and a collect a $1 billion break-up fee from Aetna.
The other major insurance merger contested by the DOJ, Anthem’s proposed takeover of Cigna, was handed off by Bates to Judge Amy Jackson Berman of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia. Scheduling will be discussed at a hearing on Aug. 12, with both sides being told to identify dates in December 2016 and January 2017 when attorneys would be unavailable.
If Berman settles on that time frame, Anthem could face some of the same challenges as Aetna in going to trail later than it had requested. Anthem had asked for a decision in the case by Dec. 31, arguing it needed 120 days before the April 30, 2017, deadline in the merger agreement to gain approval from state insurance regulators. It has also said in court that if the deal isn’t closed by the deadline, Cigna would likely refuse to extend the agreement, and could collect a $1.85 billion break-up fee from Anthem.
John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.