3328 American WholeHealth Faces Collection of Judgment
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Dynamic Chiropractic – July 4, 2006, Vol. 24, Issue 14

American WholeHealth Faces Collection of Judgment

Assets Subject to Possible Seizure

By Editorial Staff

Having been found liable for the unauthorized taking and using of names and addresses of providers, American WholeHealth faces a judgment of $160,000 in damages and attorney's fees, plus interest.

A managed care company, American WholeHealth was sued by MPAmedia for taking the names and addresses from one of MPAmedia's Web sites in order to solicit providers through the mail. At least so far, American WholeHealth has been unwilling or unable to pay the court-ordered damages and attorney's fees, even in the face of the two court decisions against them.

MPAmedia's attorney, Michael Schroeder, explained what will happen next in the legal process:

"When the losing party in a lawsuit fails or refuses to pay the money awarded by a court, it is usually because they either don't have the money or hope to reverse the award on appeal. Appealing does not stop the winning party from collecting on the judgment and seizing the loser's assets unless a bond is posted for 1 1/2 times the judgment. American WholeHealth has been unable or unwilling to post such a bond, so MPAmedia will now institute collection procedures, which can include seizing American WholeHealth's bank accounts and assets. The law will permit MPAmedia to do this for as long as it takes to satisfy the entire judgment plus interest."

MPAmedia pursued the unauthorized use by American WholeHealth in order to protect the provider Locator services it offers to consumers who visit its Web sites. The Locator is the most complete online database on the Internet and is used by thousands of consumers to locate providers in their area.

In addition, the lawsuit protects providers from unwanted solicitations resulting in their names being added to countless junk mail lists. MPAmedia plants "seed names," which are registered with the U.S. Postal Service, on all of its locators. When a company steals one of the databases off the Web site, the company inadvertently mails its junk to one of those seed names and addresses. This is then reported and exposes the fact that the company stole the database.

Resources

  1. Jury hits American WholeHealth for $210,000 judgment. Company engaged in unauthorized use of database to send junk mail. Dynamic Chiropractic, Jan. 15, 2006. www.chiroweb.com/archives/24/02/10.html.
  2. American WholeHealth faces potential legal fees award in excess of $100,000. Dynamic Chiropractic, April 10, 2006. www.chiroweb.com/archives/24/08/01.html.

 

Dynamic Chiropractic editorial staff members research, investigate and write articles for the publication on an ongoing basis. To contact the Editorial Department or submit an article of your own for consideration, email .

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