LabCorp Must Go to Trial to Defend against Deceptive Trade Practices Charges

Case: Fourteen patients sued LabCorp for allegedly overcharging them for lab tests. In March 2018, a North Carolina federal court tossed their class action ruling that the patients didn’t have a valid legal claim for unfair and deceptive trade practices. Undaunted, the patients tried again with a slightly new theory: LabCorp violated the consumer protection laws not in the way it billed the tests but because of the excessive prices it charged. LabCorp once more asked for dismissal but the court refused, saying the new claim was legally valid and that the patients could take it to trial. Significance: Surviving a motion to dismiss just means the patients will get the chance to prove their claims in court. And that won’t be easy. To constitute an unfair or deceptive trade practice, a business practice must be “egregious or aggravating.” The patients will have the “considerable burden” of showing that LabCorp’s prices were so excessive and its billing practices so coercive  as to reach that level.