United States Ninth Circuit

In a case arising out of a scheme allegedly entered into by defendants to fraudulently bill Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans for unnecessary medical services, orders granting stays to various defendants in the action is vacated and remanded where: 1) lengthy and indefinite stays place a plaintiff effectively out of court, and thus are appealable; 2) the stays in this case were both indefinite and expected to be lengthy, and thus the court had jurisdiction to review them; and 3) vacatur and remand was necessary as the district court did not explain its reasoning in granting the stays.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/13/2006
• Decided 05/25/2007
• Published 05/25/2007

Judges

• Before:  STEPHEN REINHARDT and JAY S. BYBEE, Circuit Judges, and LARRY A. BURNS, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Howard Veisz and Marvin Wexler, Kornstein Veisz Wexler & Pollard, LLP, New York, NY, for the plaintiff-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Peter Morris, Altman & Morris, Los Angeles, CA, for defendants-appellees Mario Z. Rosenberg, M.D. and Madhukar Jigjinni, M.D., Mark Gregory Clinnin, Law Offices of Mark Gregory Clinnin, Los Angeles, CA, for defendant-appellee Thu Ngoc Pham., Jennifer J. Miller, Beam Brobeck West Borges & Rosa, LLP, Santa Ana, CA, for defendant-appellee Amer Rayyes, M.D., Alexander W. Kirkpatrick, Bondcurtis, LLP, Pasadena, CA, for defendant-appellee Edgar Lluncor, M.D., Paul M. Gelb, Hooper Lundy & Bookman, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, for defendant-appellee Robert J. McKenna, M.D., Andrea L. Jacobs, Law Office of David W. Wiechert, San Clemente, CA, for defendant-appellee Huong Thien Ngo., Harold Sullivan, Law Offices of Harold Sullivan, Pasadena, CA, for defendant-appellee Millennium Outpatient Surgery Center., Dennis E. Lee, Fenton & Nelson, Los Angeles, CA, for defendants-appellees Moustafa El Alamy, M.D., Michael Chan, M.D., and Unity Outpatient Surgery Medical Center, Inc., Joel Bruce Douglas and Keith Mitchell Rozanski, Bonne Bridges Mueller O'Keefe & Nichols, Los Angeles, CA, for defendant-appellee Byung Chun, M.D., Raymond J. McMahon and Marc B. Thompson, Bonne Bridges Mueller O'Keefe & Nichols, Santa Ana, CA, for defendant-appellee Chin Kim, M.D., Margaret M. Holm, Bonne Bridges Mueller O'Keefe & Nichols, Santa Ana, CA, for defendant-appellee Ardalan Babaknia, M.D., Tracy Green, Green & Associates, Los Angeles, CA, for defendants-appellees Mitchell Rubin, Steven Rubin and Daniel Rose.