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Lawsuit should be dismissed, California says

Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

California's Insurance Commissioner filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss an Anthem Inc. lawsuit that challenges his authority to block the company's $16.5 billion acquisition of WellPoint Health Networks Inc.

Anthem sued Commissioner John Garamendi this month to overturn his finding that the WellPoint purchase would increase state health-care costs. Garamendi said in a court filing in Los Angeles that he has the authority to block the merger.

The acquisition would create the largest U.S. health-care provider, with 28 million members nationwide and more than 126,000 members in Nevada.

Garamendi is the lone holdout against the deal, which has won the approval of the U.S. government, 10 states and shareholders of both companies. Nevada was not among the states that had to approve the deal because neither Anthem nor WellPoint have subsidiaries based here.

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