As noted, an en banc Ninth Circuit asked the California Supreme Court to decide a state law issue — whether the state constitution is violated by a California statute requiring drug claims processors to generate studies about pharmacy pricing, summarize the results, and disseminate the information to their clients — about which a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel was in conflict with California Court of Appeal case law. The Supreme Court today agreed to answer the question. The court acted relatively quickly, granting the request just 41 days after it was filed and just 3 days after the filing deadline for the last party letters regarding the Ninth Circuit’s request.
At the time the Ninth Circuit requested an answer in the case — Beeman v. Anthem Prescription Management, LLC — we noted that three justices — including two current members of the court — were recused when review was denied in an earlier California Court of Appeal case raising the same issue. Today in Beeman, one of those two justices recused himself again.