Court Official Recommends Anthem, Cigna Share Internal Emails With DOJ Lawyers
Special master
The DOJ sued in July to block a proposed
Anthem argued that none of the documents should be disclosed because they were irrelevant to how Anthem CEO
Levie said that since Cigna CEO
Levie added that "Anthem itself has placed the synergies into issue in this case," since the company argues that savings will occur once the deal is completed.
He said that Anthem seems to "suggest that the newly merged company will be able to overcome or, perhaps, overrule, any disagreements in order to obtain post-merger efficiencies. That may be the case." But, he said, if the judge agrees, she can discount that evidence.
Anthem will owe Cigna nearly
According to Levie, most of the documents were written by Cigna in-house counsel
In Levie's recommendation he noted that in some cases the whole email was about the breach of contract allegation, and so the whole piece should be sent to the DOJ. He wrote: "a reasonable reading of this document is that it concerns one defendant's preparations to defend itself against claims by the other defendant."
Levie also said the DOJ lawyers overreached in requesting 29 of Cigna's documents and 11 of Anthem's. Those emails and documents, he said, addressed joint strategy about the merger, and therefore are protected.
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