American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sullivan, 526 U.S. 40, 12 (1999)

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Cite as: 526 U. S. 40 (1999)

Opinion of the Court

Our approach to this latter question begins by identifying "the specific conduct of which the plaintiff complains." Blum v. Yaretsky, 457 U. S., at 1004; see id., at 1003 ("Faithful adherence to the 'state action' requirement . . . requires careful attention to the gravamen of the plaintiff's complaint"). Here, respondents named as defendants both public officials and a class of private insurers and self-insured employers. Also named is the director of the SWIF and the School District of Philadelphia, a municipal corporation. The complaint alleged that the state and private defendants, acting under color of state law and pursuant to the Act, deprived them of property in violation of due process by withholding payment for medical treatment without prior notice and an opportunity to be heard. All agree that the public officials responsible for administering the workers' compensation system and the director of SWIF are state actors. See 139 F. 3d, at 167.10 Thus, the issue we address, in accordance with our cases, is whether a private insurer's decision to withhold payment for disputed medical treatment may be fairly attributable to the State so as to subject insurers to the constraints of the Fourteenth Amendment. Our answer to that question is "no."

state involvement. See id., at 486-487. While it may be true, as respondents argue, that the utilization review procedure here, like the non-claim statute in Tulsa, is not "self-executing," that fact does not relieve respondents of establishing both requisites of state action. Tulsa does not suggest otherwise.

10 At the same time the District Court dismissed the private insurers, it refused to grant the school district's motion to dismiss for lack of state action (the school district argued that because it contracted out its responsibilities as a self-insurer to a private company, it was not a state actor), leaving the question of the school district's status unresolved pending further discovery. Sullivan v. Barnett, 913 F. Supp. 895, 905 (ED Pa. 1996). The District Court's later ruling on the due process question obviated any need to decide whether the school district acted under color of state law, nor did the Court of Appeals rule on that question. See 139 F. 3d, at 167, and n. 16.

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