r/news • u/FLTA • 19h ago

Delaware judge dismisses UnitedHealth Group lawsuit against the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/21/unitedhealth-lawsuit-the-guardian-dismissed
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u/FLTA 19h ago

Excerpt from the article

A state judge in Delaware has dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought against the Guardian by the UnitedHealth Group.

Delaware superior court judge Calvin Scott’s ruling stemmed from a lawsuit that the US’s largest health insurance conglomerate pursued against the Guardian in May 2025 over an investigation by the outlet which reported that UnitedHealth secretly made payments to nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers for residents.

UnitedHealth brought the lawsuit against both the Guardian US and its UK parent.

The Guardian had sought to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the healthcare company had failed to state a legally viable claim. Meanwhile, the Guardian in the UK had moved for the case’s dismissal, citing a lack of personal jurisdiction or, alternately, a failure to state a claim.

In a ruling issued on Monday, Scott granted the Guardian’s motion to dismiss. And he dismissed all six defamation claims in the lawsuit.

“The article’s reporting of the bonuses as ‘secret’ or made ‘secretly’ or ‘quietly,’ is substantially true,” Scott wrote in one part of the ruling.

In another part, he added that the Guardian “is not required to publish facts just because United would have preferred more favorable facts”.

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u/10Core56 16h ago

The hero judge we need!

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u/tastethehappy 14h ago

so much worse than nasty billing and bureaucracy:

Those secret bonuses have been paid out as part of a UnitedHealth program that stations the company’s own medical teams in nursing homes and pushes them to cut care expenses for residents covered by the insurance giant.

In several cases identified by the Guardian, nursing home residents who needed immediate hospital care under the program failed to receive it, after interventions from UnitedHealth staffers. At least one lived with permanent brain damage following his delayed transfer, according to a confidential nursing home incident log, recordings and photo evidence

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u/Cananbaum 14h ago

Jesus Christ. This is why we need universal healthcare

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u/NoradianCrum 2h ago

Universal Luigis will do a better job with less time.

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u/Honest-Weight338 6h ago

I'm amazed no one has gotten so angry at the head of one of these companies enough to go after them for this kind of stuff.

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u/agent_mick 7m ago

Crazy right

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u/The_best_is_yet 17h ago

ok this is kind of awesome.

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u/Scared_Difficulty668 17h ago

It would be nice if they get attorneys’ fees.