A California federal jury on Friday awarded our client, a software and consulting company, more than $12 million after determining that a health insurance company's subsidiary infringed our client's patent for measuring physician efficiency. The San Jose jury also rejected the opposing party's counterclaim that our client infringed their patent for processing medical claims data. 

Our client was represented by the St. Louis team of Partners Richard Brophy and David Harlan and Associate Mark Thomas; all of the Intellectual Property practice group; and Associate Zach Howenstine, of the Litigation practice group. 

The patent at the heart of the case protects our client’s approach to analyzing physician efficiency. This method enables health plans, physician groups and others to obtain accurate and reliable physician efficiency scores, which are increasingly vital statistical measures used to combat rising health care costs. 

After our client filed its initial lawsuit in 2011, the subsidiary filed counterclaims asserting that our client infringed eight patents relating to the processing of medical claims data. Our client defeated seven of those patents in pretrial proceedings and obtained a jury finding of noninfringement on the eighth at trial.