Andrew Goldfarb Named a Class Action Trailblazer by The National Law Journal
Zuckerman Spaeder LLP is pleased to announce that partner Andrew N. Goldfarb has been named by The National Law Journal (NLJ) as a 2023 Class Action/Mass Torts Litigation Trailblazer. The award recognizes legal professionals who are “agents of change” and have made “significant marks” on their practice area.
Mr. Goldfarb has extensive experience leading complex civil cases – work which often involves food and drug law and class action lawsuits challenging the denial of health care benefits and treatments. In recent years, he has worked to deliver justice for tens of thousands of individuals, representing classes against some of the nation’s largest health insurers and helping lead Zuckerman Spaeder’s representation of almost 1,800 sexual abuse survivors in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) bankruptcy.
Last year, Mr. Goldfarb played a central role in a class action lawsuit that challenged a UnitedHealthcare policy that substantially reduced payments for certain out-of-network behavioral health services, alleging violations of mental health parity laws and regulations. That work, done in coordination with federal and New York regulators, resulted in an extraordinary settlement that ended the challenged policy and provided significant compensation to a class of 110,000 patients.
“Class actions remain a powerful tool to address systemic inequalities in our society,” Mr. Goldfarb told NLJ. “We use these large-scale efforts to pursue justice for health care patients and their providers to recover owed benefits, to bring awareness to important issues, and to drive policy changes that will have a lasting impact beyond our cases.”
Mr. Goldfarb has handled other significant cases as part of Zuckerman Spaeder’s pioneering practice, which systematically challenges abusive practices by health insurers. In one, he led litigation that yielded favorable class settlements with major health insurers over their refusal to cover an FDA-approved therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Class members received a significant portion of their owed benefits, and the insurers changed their policies to cover the treatment.
Mr. Goldfarb has also dedicated tremendous time to the effort to obtain a measure of justice for almost 1,800 clients who, after experiencing traumatic sexual abuse in scouting as children, bravely came forward as adults to hold BSA accountable. He was integrally involved in Zuckerman Spaeder’s efforts to provide a path to recovery for survivors of such abuse. Now that the BSA bankruptcy plan has been confirmed with a $2.46 billion settlement fund, Mr. Goldfarb and his colleagues are now zealously pursuing meaningful compensation for their clients during the claim adjudication process.