Darryl Cordero concentrates his practice on healthcare litigation, complex commercial litigation, and business insurance disputes.

He has extensive experience representing healthcare 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 more than $150 million for healthcare clients in these matters.

Before joining Payne & Fears, Darryl was a principal of Weissburg and Aronson, a firm specializing in healthcare 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

  • 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. Loma Linda University Medical Center. v. Farmers Group Inc. (United States District Ct., E.D. Cal.).
  • 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 a manner satisfactory to MHS. Memorial Health Service. v. Tenet Healthcare Corp. (L.A. Super. Ct., American Arbitration Association).
  • 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 a manner satisfactory to MHS. Memorial Health Services. v. Pacificare of California. (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 a manner satisfactory to PIH. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital Inc. v. Combined Insurance Co. (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 a manner satisfactory to PIH. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital Inc. v. Pacificare of California (L.A. Super. Ct.).
  • 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 a manner satisfactory to InterHealth (payment terms are confidential). InterHealth Corp. v. Zurich American Insurance Co. (United States District Ct., Cent. Dist. Cal.).
  • Served as lead counsel for a hospital 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 a manner satisfactory to the hospital (payment terms are confidential). InterHealth Corp. v. Farmers Group, Inc. (L.A. Super. Ct.).
  • 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 a manner satisfactory to PHP (payment terms are confidential). Presbyterian Health Physicians v. NORCAL Mut. Ins. Co. (United States District Ct., Cent. Dist. Cal.).
  • Served as 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 a 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. Long Beach Memorial Medical Center v. Blue Shield of California (L.A. Super. Ct.).
  • 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. Goleta Valley Medical Center v. State Department of Health Servs. (United States District Ct., Cent. Dist. Cal.).
  • 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 more than $12 million from the liability insurer after winning on summary adjudication. California Association of Hospitals. and Health Systems v. Truck Insurance Exchange (L.A. Super. Ct.).
  • Served as lead counsel for eight California hospitals in prosecuting insurance coverage and bad faith claims. The case sought insurance proceeds for underlying antitrust litigation against the hospitals. The case settled in a manner satisfactory to the hospitals (payment terms are confidential). Delmed Corp., et al. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (L.A. Super. Ct.).
  • 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. California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems v. PCC Inc. (United States District Court, Cent. Dist. Cal.).
  • Served as 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). Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. v. Blue Shield of California. (L.A. Super. Ct.).
  • Successfully defended a nonprofit hospital against claims by an imaging company that the hospital violated an alleged non-competition agreement. After successfully forcing the imaging provider into arbitration, the matter resolved to the hospital’s satisfaction (settlement terms confidential). Saddleback Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center v. Saddleback Memorial Medical Center., et al. (Orange County Super. Ct., American Arbitration Association).