New York's highest court of appeals has held that no-fault insurers cannot deny no-fault benefits where they unilaterally determine that a provider has committed misconduct based upon alleged fraudulent conduct. The Court held that this authority belongs solely to state regulators, specifically New York's Board of Regents, which oversees professional licensing and discipline. This follows a similar recent ruling in Florida reported in this publication.
A Moment of Silence for Jo Anderson
Ms. Jo Anderson, who worked as receptionist and bookkeeper for Dr. William Holmberg, chief fund-raiser for the Wilk et al., anti-trust suit, passed away August 9, 1993.
Ms. Anderson was Dr. Holmberg's receptionist for 19 years, and was the secretary/bookkeeper for the Wilk et al., anti-trust fund-raising committee for 15 years. Even up to the time of her death, she was responsible for sending out pledge reminders -- thousands of them -- and did all of the bookkeeping for the case. There have been over 10,000 separate contributions since 1978, and Ms. Anderson filed and listed every one of them. Through her numerous phone calls and letters, many of the donors got to know her personally.
Dr. Holmberg, president of the Chiropractic Centennial Foundation (CCF), explained that every time Ms. Anderson would send out one of the many mailers requesting donations, she would give a nickname to the mailer. She called the final one she mailed out "TOLO," short for "This One Last One," because she was so confident that chiropractic would triumph.
One of the four chiropractic defendants in the Wilk et al., case, Michael Pedigo, DC, offered these comments on Ms. Anderson's passing:
"Today I learned that Jo Anderson passed away. While I never met her, as I am sure most of the readers have not either, she played an important role in the Wilk vs. AMA anti-trust lawsuit. Many times over the years I have heard Dr. Holmberg speak with high praise about the excellent work she did, about how dedicated she was to seeing an accurate accounting was made of the funds. She was a behind-the-scenes worker who played a vital role in this lawsuit. She will be missed! I very much appreciate the major contribution she made to this profession."
Ms. Anderson leaves behind her husband Ken, and two daughters Diana and Martha.