Popoola v. MD-Individual Practice Assoc.
No. Civ.A.DKC 2000-2946 (D. Md. May 23, 2001)

The district court of Maryland granted a stay in a case involving insurance subrogation. In that case, a health plan asserted a lien against the insurance settlement received by one of its enrollees for the injuries she received in an automobile accident. The health plan's contract with the enrollee provided the plan with subrogation rights against its members, but the enrollee claimed that such rights violate a provision of the Maryland Code known as the HMO Act. The health plan claims that its plan is an employee benefit plan governed by ERISA and, thus, the HMO Act is inapplicable in this case.

A nearly identical case, Riemer v. Columbia Medical Plan, was decided by the district court in the recent past and is now on appeal to the Fourth Circuit. In that opinion, the district court held that ERISA preempted the HMO Act, under the civil enforcement provision, because a holding under the HMO Act would require the court to interpret the plan's reimbursement provisions. In light of this finding, the court dismissed all claims that were brought by employee benefit plan enrollees.

The enrollee in this case requested a stay pending the Fourth Circuit's decision in Riemer. She argued that ERISA's civil enforcement provision does not preempt her action under Maryland's HMO Act because the court would not have to construe the plan to make a decision under the Act in this case. This argument was also raised in the Riemer appeal. The district court granted the stay, finding the issues of both cases to be nearly identical and the outcome of Riemer to be pertinent to its decision in this case.