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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
The origins of the ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in The Travelers Indemnity Co. of America v. Portal Healthcare Solutions L.L.C. is a 2013 New York Supreme Court lawsuit filed against Centreville, Virginia-based Portal alleging patients' medical records were accessible online from Nov. 2, 2012, to March 14, 2013.
Portal was accused in Dara L. Halliday et al. v. Glens Falls Hospital et al. of negligence, among other charges, although no third party viewed the information.
Portal's insurer, Travelers, agreed to provide a defense under a reservation-of-rights clause, but filed suit in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, in July 2013 seeking a declaration that it was not obligated to defend the company because there had been no “publication” of the information.
The three-judge appeals court panel essentially adopted the lower court's ruling in Portal's favor without setting out its own specific arguments.
Meanwhile, the underlying New York case is still pending and class certification has not yet been decided, said plaintiffs attorney Donald W. Boyajian, a partner at Dreyer Boyajian L.L.P. in Albany, New York.