Regence Blueshield v. Philip Morris Inc.

MEMORANDUM

Sixteen Blue Cross/Blue Shield Plans and their subsidiaries (the “Plans”), independent providers of health plan benefits and third party payers of health care services, appeal from the district court’s dismissal of their federal antitrust, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), and state statutory and common *653 law claims against numerous tobacco companies and industry-affiliated organizations (collectively, “Tobacco Firms”). The facts and prior proceedings are known to the parties; they are not restated herein except as necessary.

The Plans allege that the Tobacco Finns have engaged in a decades-long conspiracy to misrepresent the dangerousness of tobacco use and the addictiveness of nicotine and to suppress competition in the development of less harmful nicotine and tobacco products. The Plans seek to recover the costs that they have paid to health care providers for the medical treatment of tobacco-related diseases suffered by their subscribers as a result of the Tobacco Firms’ conspiracy.

I

The district court properly dismissed the Plans’ federal claims because the Plans do not have antitrust or RICO standing. Their claimed damages were…