Healy v. Milliman, Inc.

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 9, 2026
Docket24-3327
StatusPublished

This text of Healy v. Milliman, Inc. (Healy v. Milliman, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Healy v. Milliman, Inc., (9th Cir. 2026).

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JAMES HEALY, No. 24-3327 D.C. No. Plaintiff - Appellant, 2:20-cv-01473- JCC v.

MILLIMAN, INC., OPINION Defendant - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington John C. Coughenour, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted November 19, 2025 San Francisco, California

Filed January 9, 2026

Before: Sidney R. Thomas, Daniel A. Bress, and Salvador Mendoza, Jr., Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Sidney R. Thomas 2 HEALY V. MILLIMAN, INC.

SUMMARY *

Class Actions / Standing

Reversing the district court’s partial grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant Milliman, Inc., and remanding in an action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the panel held that, following class certification, both named and unnamed class members in a money damages suit must present evidence of standing at summary judgment, but the usual summary judgment standards apply. Named plaintiff James Healy alleged that Milliman’s inaccurate consumer reports violated 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b). The district court certified an “inaccuracy class.” Milliman sought partial summary judgment, arguing that Healy needed to demonstrate class-wide standing for the inaccuracy class. The district court granted Milliman’s motion, holding that, under TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413 (2021), Healy had to present at least some direct evidence of concrete injury on a class-wide basis but failed to do so. Healy filed an interlocutory appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). Agreeing with the district court, the panel concluded that the logic of TransUnion requires both named and unnamed members of a certified class for money damages to demonstrate standing at summary judgment. The panel held, however, that plaintiffs could use either direct evidence or circumstantial evidence and did not need to show that a jury necessarily would find in their favor. The panel

* This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. HEALY V. MILLIMAN, INC. 3

remanded for the district court to consider whether Healy had presented enough circumstantial evidence that a rational trier of fact could reasonably infer that there was class-wide standing.

COUNSEL

Matthew W.H. Wessler (argued) and Gabriel Chess, Gupta Wessler LLP, Washington, D.C.; Jessica Garland, Gupta Wessler LLP, San Francisco, California; Blythe H. Chandler, Beth E. Terrell, Jennifer R. Murray, and Adrienne D. McEntee, Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC, Seattle, Washington; James A. Francis, Lauren K.W. Brennan, and John Soumilas, Francis Mailman Soumilas PC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; for Plaintiff-Appellant. Nathaniel Garrett (argued) and Eric A. Nicholson, Jones Day, San Francisco, California; Adam W. Wiers, Jones Day, Chicago, Illinois; Daniel A. Brown, Jeffery M. Wells, and Rodney L. Umberger, Williams Kastner, Seattle, Washington; for Defendant-Appellee. Erik R. Zimmerman and Zachary A. Johnson, Robinson Bradshaw and Hinson PA, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Jennifer B. Dickey and Jonathan D. Urick, U.S. Chamber Litigation Canter, Washington, D.C.; for Amici Curiae the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and the Consumer Data Industry Association. 4 HEALY V. MILLIMAN, INC.

OPINION

S.R. THOMAS, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents the question of whether, following class certification, both named and unnamed class members in a money damages suit must present evidence of standing at summary judgment. We conclude that they must do so. However, we further hold that the usual summary judgment standards apply. We remand for the district court to re- examine the unnamed class members’ standing using the usual standards applicable for deciding summary judgment motions. I A Milliman, Inc. is an independent risk management, benefits, and technology firm based in Seattle. One of its services is “Intelliscript,” which compiles reports containing a consumer’s medical history and sells those reports to third- party insurers such as life insurance companies. When an individual applies for insurance, the insurance company submits an inquiry to Milliman for information on the applicant’s medical history, prescription history, or both. The insurance company sends Milliman the applicant’s first and last name, date of birth, gender, social security number, and zip code so that Milliman can obtain the applicant’s health records from sources such as pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacies, and health insurance companies. Approximately 87% of information that Milliman matches to applicants is based on the applicant’s social security number. The remaining 13% of information that Milliman matches to applicants is based on the name, date HEALY V. MILLIMAN, INC. 5

of birth, zip code, and gender that the applicant provided to the insurance company. Sometimes, Milliman obtains data that exactly matches these identifiers. Other times, Milliman uses “fuzzy matching” to pull in records that have personal identifying information that is similar to, but not exactly the same as, the applicant’s. For example, Milliman will look at records with names that are nearly identical and contain the same consonants, instances where the first and last name are reversed, the use of nicknames for first names, and variations in the use of suffixes or hyphens. When Milliman identifies health records using “fuzzy matching,” the company includes them on an applicant’s report even if the records are associated with a social security number that is different than the applicant’s. Beyond compiling an applicant’s medical data, Milliman’s reports also analyze this data and give underwriting recommendations to the requesting insurance company. To do so, Milliman applies the insurance company’s “decision criteria” and, based on those criteria, tells the company whether each piece of medical data on the report is a high, medium, or low risk indicator. Milliman’s reports communicate their recommendations to the insurer by using red, yellow, and green flags. A report that contains a red flag assigns the applicant the highest risk indicator and means that applicant is not eligible to receive the insurance policy for which they applied. In Milliman’s words, this means that an insurance company has “[n]o need [to] review” the application and should decline it outright. A yellow flag instructs insurers to exercise caution prior to extending insurance to an applicant because the applicant is higher risk. A green flag indicates the lowest level of risk. 6 HEALY V. MILLIMAN, INC.

B James Healy, the named plaintiff in this case, applied for life insurance with Americo Financial Life and Annuity Insurance Company in April 2020. Americo requested a report of Healy’s medical and prescription history from Milliman. But the report Milliman supplied Americo contained another individual’s medical records and social security number. As a result, Milliman wrongly attributed serious medical conditions to Healy that it tagged with a red flag, such as liver disease, osteoarthritis, diabetes, chest pains, and sleep apnea. Healy, however, had a clean bill of health. Americo denied Healy’s life insurance application because of the erroneous red flags in Milliman’s report. After his application was denied, Healy repeatedly contacted Milliman to fix his report. Milliman failed to timely investigate or correct the errors. C On October 5, 2020, Healy filed this class action lawsuit against Milliman.

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Healy v. Milliman, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/healy-v-milliman-inc-ca9-2026.