NCPA Urges SCOTUS to Reject Radical Change to Legal Procedure That Could Limit Class Action Cases

Key Takeaways

Labcorp's Supreme Court case could affect independent pharmacies' ability to pursue class actions against PBMs and insurers.
Labcorp argues for class certification only if every member has verifiable damages, which NCPA finds burdensome.
NCPA emphasizes class actions as crucial for small businesses to challenge anticompetitive practices by large corporations.
The outcome could advantage PBMs, large insurers, and other corporate entities by limiting class action feasibility.

Cases against PBMs and Big Insurers could be bogged by procedural hurdles if SCOTUS sides with petitioner, NCPA says.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (April 9, 2025) – A Supreme Court case brought by Labcorp, the diagnostic testing giant, doesn’t have much to do with pharmacy, but the outcome could affect whether independent pharmacies can pursue class action cases against bad actors in the PBM and insurance industries, the National Community Pharmacists Association argued in an amicus brief submitted Monday.

“One of the most important ways for small businesses to fight back against large corporate monopolies is to bring a class action lawsuit,” said NCPA General Counsel Matthew Seiler. “Labcorp is asking the Supreme Court to make a radical change in the rules for certifying class action lawsuits. If it succeeds, it will be much more difficult for independent community pharmacies to protect from unfair, anticompetitive practices by pharmacy benefit managers and large insurance companies.”

At issue in the case, Labcorp v. Davis, is whether a court can certify a class without first determining whether every single member of that proposed class suffered an injury. Labcorp says it can’t, a position that NCPA says is “impractically cumbersome and burdensome,” and it would mean that “small businesses, including independent community pharmacies, might no longer be able to protect free markets and the communities they serve through class-action litigation.”

An NCPA member is currently a class-action litigant against Express Scripts, CVS, and OptumRx. NCPA itself is a plaintiff in class actions against other dominant corporations whose actions have injured NCPA members and other independent community pharmacies. Class action lawsuits are brought by plaintiffs on behalf of an entire class of injured parties. The class could include thousands, or even millions, of potential claimants. Labcorp’s argument is that a court must ensure that every single member of the class must have verifiable damages before it can allow the case to move forward.

“That’s practically impossible,” said Seiler. “It would prevent many class action cases from ever getting off the ground, and that would be an enormous advantage for PBMs, large insurers, and other corporate bad actors.”

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Founded in 1898, the National Community Pharmacists Association is the voice for the community pharmacist, representing over 18,900 pharmacies that employ more than 205,000 individuals nationwide. Community pharmacies are rooted in the communities where they are located and are among America's most accessible health care providers. To learn more, visit www.ncpa.org.