Choose dismisses lawsuit towards notorious contractor over staff’ unpaid medical insurance premiums

BATON ROUGE –  A federal choose has dismissed a lawsuit towards a troubled contractor who had his license revoked by an oversight board amid a collection of WBRZ Investigative Unit experiences.

Former staff had sued Kelly Sills and his firm Coastal Bridge after they discovered their medical bills wouldn’t be paid by the corporate medical insurance plan as a result of the corporate had not paid the premiums and the plan had been canceled.

Choose Shelley Dick dominated that the staff had waited too lengthy to file the lawsuit, however left open the opportunity of an amended submitting within the case.

The previous staff mentioned they owe tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in hospital payments.

Their lawsuit claimed they have been knowledgeable by Blue Cross Blue Defend “a number of months” after their procedures that the insurance coverage plan was retroactively canceled and that their cost was denied.

Luis Nieves-Rivera, considered one of Sills’ former staff who was a plaintiff within the go well with, shared paperwork with WBRZ exhibiting that Coastal Bridge was deducting medical insurance from their paychecks. However that cash was by no means paid to Blue Cross. 

“First, I used to be advised Blue Cross Blue Defend wouldn’t pay the declare as a result of my employer didn’t pay the premium,” Nieves-Rivera mentioned.

Regardless of that, the choose finally dominated in Sills’ favor after discovering the 2 staff missed the window for submitting a declare below the corporate’s coverage, which requires submitting inside 90 days of a medical process and no later than 15 months after the very fact. 

“Plaintiffs don’t make allegations that specify why, in the course of the a number of months earlier than they acquired the letter, it was not moderately attainable to file a declare,” the choice learn.

The ruling additionally argued the timeline of “a number of months” specified by the go well with was too ambiguous and will “arguably” lengthen by means of the length of the 90-day interval throughout which they have been alleged to file a declare.

WBRZ has reported extensively on Sills, together with a drunk-driving arrest and one other arrest at Disney World in 2021 throughout which he was charged with trespassing after refusing to adjust to COVID security precautions. 

Physique digicam video of the arrest went viral after Sills, who nonetheless had unpaid payments in Louisiana—together with $900,000 owed to State Police for a safety element—repeatedly shouted at employees over the $15,000 he claimed to have spent on his household’s journey.