A California court’s dismissal of a price-fixing case against data analytics company MultiPlan Corp. is poised to bolster the firm’s defense as it battles lawsuits. The VHS liquidator sued in 2021, claiming MultiPlan’s algorithmic repricing tools caused health plans to underpay hospitals operated. “It’s a theory that just doesn’t have legs,” said David Cross, a partner in Goodwin's Antitrust and Competition practice. “There’s nothing here that violates the antitrust laws.” The ruling provides positive momentum for the company, especially given that the court didn’t give the plaintiffs leave to amend the allegations, Cross said. “Oftentimes courts will give multiple times to amend,” Cross said. “Here, the judge is saying, ‘There is no set of pleadings that could survive because you’re trying to shove something into the antitrust framework that doesn’t fit.’ The ruling by Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo is grounded off the application of law in three federal cases involving an analysis of Section 1 of the Sherman Act that didn’t get past the motion to dismiss stage, including one that alleged Aetna Inc. and other insurers suppressed reimbursements. “She used the cases to say, ‘I’m not doing something new here.’ She’s not confronting a novel theory,” Cross said to Bloomberg Law.