Darryl Cordero concentrates his practice on health care litigation, complex commercial litigation, and business insurance disputes.
He has extensive experience representing health care providers in a wide variety of disputes. He has successfully represented hospitals and hospital affiliates in litigation involving managed care contracts, partnership and joint venture agreements, Medi-Cal payments, non-competition agreements, liability insurance coverage, stop-loss insurance, non-contracted emergency care, and complex class actions. Darryl has recovered over $150 million for health-care clients in these matters.
He was selected to the Southern California Super Lawyers list in 2004-2005, 2007-2011 and 2014. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
Before joining Payne & Fears LLP, Darryl was a principal of Weissburg and Aronson, a firm specializing in health care litigation. He served as a law clerk to the Hon. Harry Lee Hudspeth of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Representative Matters
- Loma Linda Univ. Med. Ctr. v. Farmers Group, Inc. (United States District Ct., E.D. Cal.). Served as lead class counsel for 630 California hospitals in a challenge to a major insurer’s accounting and administration of a $1 billion group insurance program. The trial judge described the complex case as involving the “interrelationship between technical insurance accounting rules, state insurance regulatory requirements, and insurance coverage and contribution.” The litigation recovered $51 million for the hospitals in a court-approved settlement.
- Memorial Health Servs. v. Tenet Healthcare Corp. (L.A. Super. Ct., American Arbitration Ass'n). Represented nonprofit hospitals operated by Memorial Health Services in multifaceted litigation and arbitration against Tenet and its subsidiaries. Issues included the proper calculation of charges for services to sub-capitated enrollees, Tenet’s charging and pricing practices, contracts between Tenet and third-party health plans, and contracts between Tenet and MHS. All proceedings settled in 2005 in a manner satisfactory to MHS.
- Memorial Health Servs. v. Pacificare of Cal. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Lead counsel for MHS and its affiliated hospitals in prosecuting claims against Pacificare arising out of Pacificare’s managed care contracts with Tenet Healthcare Corp. and its subsidiaries. MHS contended that Pacificare had violated its contracts with MHS hospitals by allowing Tenet to impose discriminatory rates for services to Pacificare members subcapitated to MHS hospitals. Litigation settled in 2005 in a manner satisfactory to MHS.
- Presbyterian Intercommunity Hosp., Inc. v. Combined Ins. Co. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Prosecuted insurance coverage and bad faith claims by PIH against a managed care stop-loss insurer. PIH contended that the insurer breached its policy in bad faith by failing to pay a large claim involving services to a capitated enrollee. Litigation settled in 2004 in a manner satisfactory to PIH.
- Presbyterian Intercommunity Hosp., Inc. v. Pacificare of Cal. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Prosecuted claims by PIH and its affiliated hospitals against Pacificare arising out of Pacificare’s managed care contracts with Tenet Healthcare Corp. and its subsidiaries. PIH contended that Pacificare breached its contracts with the hospital by permitting Tenet to impose discriminatory rates for services to subcapitated enrollees. Litigation settled in 2003 in a manner satisfactory to PIH.
- InterHealth Corp. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co. (United States District Ct., Cent. Dist. Cal.). Prosecuted insurance coverage and bad faith claims by InterHealth and its subsidiaries against Zurich. Claims arose out of a complex business lawsuit brought by a disaffected doctors’ group under contract with an InterHealth affiliate. Litigation settled in 2005 in a manner satisfactory to InterHealth (payment terms are confidential).
- InterHealth Corp. v. Farmers Group, Inc. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Lead counsel for hospital holding company and its subsidiaries in prosecuting insurance coverage and bad faith claims against a Farmers Group exchange for failing to defend a lawsuit by a disaffected doctors’ group. Litigation settled in 2006 in a manner satisfactory to the hospital (payment terms are confidential).
- Presbyterian Health Physicians v. NORCAL Mut. Ins. Co. (United States District Ct., Cent. Dist. Cal.). Prosecuted insurance coverage and bad faith claims by a medical practice foundation against NORCAL arising out of complex litigation brought by a contracted doctors’ group. Insurance claims settled in 2005 in a manner satisfactory to PHP (payment terms are confidential).
- Long Beach Mem. Med. Ctr. v. Blue Shield of Cal. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Lead counsel for Long Beach Memorial and two other MHS hospitals in litigation against Blue Shield. The hospitals contended that Blue Shield breached 19 managed care contracts by “disallowing” charges for stop-loss computation purposes. After the hospitals obtained court ruling that Blue Shield is legally obligated to pay claims as uncontested due to its failure to provide specific reasons for denying the charges, the matter was successfully resolved.
- Goleta Valley Med. Ctr. v. State Dep’t of Health Servs. (United States District Ct., Cent. Dist. Cal.). Represented a certified class of hospital providers in litigation against the State Department of Health Services, challenging the state’s calculation of interim payments under the Medi-Cal program. Achieved a substantial victory for the hospitals by summary judgment from the United States District Court, leading to a favorable settlement in the hospitals’ favor.
- California Ass’n of Hosps. and Health Sys. v. Truck Ins. Exch. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Served as lead counsel for 110 California hospitals and the state trade association in a complex coverage dispute with their liability insurer arising out of an antitrust lawsuit. The hospitals recovered over $12 million from the liability insurer after winning on summary adjudication.
- Delmed Corp., et al. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Lead counsel for eight California hospitals in prosecuting insurance coverage and bad faith claims. Case sought coverage for underlying antitrust litigation against the hospitals. Case settled in a manner satisfactory to the hospitals (payment terms are confidential).
- California Ass’n of Hosps. and Health Sys. v. PCC, Inc. (United States District Court, Cent. Dist. Cal.). Prosecuted antitrust and RICO claims by 121 hospitals and state trade association against four large workers’ compensation insurers and a third-party claim review company. The lawsuit charged that the insurers and the claim review company had conspired to avoid payment of charges for drugs and supplies furnished to injured workers. Litigation settled in a manner satisfactory to the hospitals.
- Memorial Health Servs. v. Pacificare of Cal. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Lead counsel for nonprofit hospital holding company against a major health plan. Litigation challenged the health plan’s calculation of monthly capitation payments for assigned enrollees. Litigation settled in 2005 in a manner satisfactory to hospitals.
- Long Beach Mem. Med. Ctr. v. Blue Shield of Cal. (L.A. Super. Ct.). Lead counsel for Long Beach Memorial (Miller Children’s Hospital) in litigation challenging Blue Shield’s underpayments for neonatal intensive care. The litigation established that Blue Shield, using a questionable activity tool, had failed to pay for care delivered at high levels of acuity. The matter resolved in a matter satisfactory to the hospital (payment terms confidential).
- Saddleback Magnetic Resonance Imaging Ctr. v. Saddleback Mem. Med. Ctr., et al. (Orange County Super. Ct., American Arbitration Association). Successfully defended a nonprofit hospital against claims by an imaging company that the hospital violated an alleged noncompetition agreement. After successfully forcing the imaging provider into arbitration, the matter resolved in 2015 to the hospital’s satisfaction (settlement terms confidential).
