Claim against an insurer for medical care provided to an insured; Standing; Covenant Med Ctr, Inc v State Farm Mut Auto Ins Co; Assignment; Effect of the insured’s agreement to dismiss an action for PIP benefits against the insurer with prejudice

Holding that plaintiff-healthcare provider (MSBS) did not have standing to assert a claim against defendant-insurer (Citizens) for payment of PIP benefits for the medical care provided to its insured (defendant-Ford), the court affirmed summary disposition for Citizens. MSBS asserted it was entitled to payment from Citizens based on assignments from Ford. However, as of the dates of those assignments, “Ford had already entered into the arbitration agreement with Citizens whereby Ford settled all claims to PIP benefits that he had against Citizens, agreeing that Citizens would not be liable for any of Ford’s medical expenses that were not included in the agreement.” Thus, at the time he assigned MSBS his right to payment for the surgery performed by an MSBS surgeon, “he had already agreed to submit all claims for PIP benefits that stemmed from the accident to a neutral arbitrator and had stipulated to the dismissal of his lawsuit against Citizens with prejudice.” As a result, when he “assigned his right to payment of PIP benefits to MSBS, he had no right to assert a legal action against Citizens for these claims, and could not assign to MSBS more rights than he possessed.” While MSBS challenged the validity of the arbitration agreement, the court concluded that, as MSBS lacked “standing to assert a claim against Citizens” here, it did not show it was entitled “to challenge an agreement between Ford and Citizens to which MSBS was not a party and which was entered into long before MSBS rendered medical services to Ford.”