Rebecca Hanson
Overview
Rebecca Hanson is a partner in Crowell & Moring's Health Care Group in the Chicago office. Her practice focuses on managed care litigation and counseling. She has handled a wide range of managed care litigation, including class actions and member and provider cases involving ERISA, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), mental health parity, 340B drug pricing program, prompt pay, and bad faith. Rebecca is well-versed on the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) and routinely counsels clients on that issue and handles related litigation.
Career & Education
- University of Chicago, J.D., with honors
- Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, M.A., Russian, Central European, East European, and Eurasian Studies
- Macalester College, B.A.
- Illinois
- Utah
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the District of Utah
- Member, American Bar Association
- Former Junior Board Member, Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, Inc.
Rebecca 's Insights
Firm News | 5 min read | 08.06.25
Chicago – August 06, 2025: Crowell & Moring today announced that a group of 16 highly regarded health care litigation partners is joining the firm, together with their team, and led by accomplished trial attorney Martin J. Bishop. The strategic combination creates one of the largest health care practices in the country and expands the firm’s ability to provide clients across the industry with the full spectrum of litigation, investigations, regulatory, transactional, and recovery capabilities. The team joins from Reed Smith, where Bishop served on the firm’s executive committee.
Representative Matters
- Developed precedent for MHPAEA claims in Utah district court in behavioral health lawsuits by successfully arguing at both the motion to dismiss and summary judgment stages that there needs to be a nexus between claim for coverage and alleged parity violation for the parity claim to stand.
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of managed care organization in mental health residential facility coverage dispute on the basis that neither the wilderness program nor the boarding school at issue were qualified to provide mental health benefits as a residential treatment center under the terms of the relevant plan.
- Secured a dismissal with prejudice in a residential treatment behavioral health lawsuit alleging breach of contract and violations of the Texas Insurance Code on behalf of managed care organization who administered the plan for a state university.
- Defeated class certification and secured summary judgment victories (including on appeal in one case) for several managed care clients in disputes involving the ACA’s preventive services provision.
- Secured dismissal of class action allegations on the pleadings in ERISA dispute in the Southern District of Ohio.
- Obtained judgments on the administrative record for commercial health plans involving behavioral health claims for benefits under Section 502(a)(1)(B) of ERISA.
- Represented a managed care company in numerous health care benefits disputes brought by members, including successful appeals before the Fifth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits, several of which Rebecca argued.
- Represented a health benefit holding company and several of its affiliates in successful effort to defeat two separate motions for class certification of a putative nationwide class of health care providers in an ERISA action – once in PCA v. BCBSA, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148689 (N.D. Ill.) and again in PCA v. BCBSA, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146955 (N.D. Ill) – and to obtain summary judgment on the claims of a subscriber plaintiff who sought to represent a class of health care subscribers. 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7257.
- Represented a managed care company in an arbitration involving a contract dispute with a hospital provider over payment rate for a particular procedure.
- Represented a managed care company, a health insurance company, and health benefit holding companies in an ERISA dispute with out-of-network providers over the rate of payment for services.
- Represented a health insurance company in an ERISA dispute with an out-of-network provider over coverage verifications
- Represented a food manufacturer in federal class action in the Southern District of Illinois involving numerous state consumer fraud statutes. Represented same food manufacturer and a supermarket chain in a separate matter in successful effort to obtain dismissal of state law consumer fraud class action claims. Zaycer v. Weis Markets, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129791.
- Represented a Credit Union in obtaining favorable ruling in federal tax “test case” for the credit union industry, Bellco Credit Union v. U.S., in U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado, challenging recent IRS determinations that the sale of debt protection and financial service products by credit unions are subject to unrelated business income tax (UBIT).
- Represented a Japanese supplier in an arbitration where hundreds of millions of dollars were at issue and a favorable settlement was negotiated.
- Represented a Canadian corporation in obtaining a Seventh Circuit ruling that a foreign corporation is not subject to ERISA liability in the U.S. courts. GCIU Employees v. Goldfarb Corp. (7th Cir. 2009).
- Represented a construction company in obtaining favorable and landmark franchise law ruling in FMS, Inc. v. Volvo Construction Co., 557 F.3d 758 (7th Cir. 2009), reversing a jury verdict for plaintiff and holding that Volvo properly terminated plaintiff’s Samsung dealership when Volvo bought Samsung and discontinued that line of equipment.
- Represented a major retailer in obtaining favorable dismissal of constitutional claims involving free speech and assembly rights on private property. Kuna v. Illinois State Board of Elections, et al., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137689 (S.D. Ill.).
- Represented a consulting company in breach of fiduciary duty in breach of contract case involving trade secret issues where a former employee solicited and recruited the company’s employees for a new business venture.
- Represented numerous clients in successfully litigating employment cases involving Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), gender discrimination, and age discrimination.
- Managed and conducting all phases of oral and written discovery in large-scale complex litigation and arbitration, including successfully litigating discovery disputes.
- Successfully litigated several pro bono cases, including an immigration case that resulted in asylum for a woman from Sudan.
Rebecca 's Insights
Firm News | 5 min read | 08.06.25
Chicago – August 06, 2025: Crowell & Moring today announced that a group of 16 highly regarded health care litigation partners is joining the firm, together with their team, and led by accomplished trial attorney Martin J. Bishop. The strategic combination creates one of the largest health care practices in the country and expands the firm’s ability to provide clients across the industry with the full spectrum of litigation, investigations, regulatory, transactional, and recovery capabilities. The team joins from Reed Smith, where Bishop served on the firm’s executive committee.
Rebecca 's Insights
Firm News | 5 min read | 08.06.25
Chicago – August 06, 2025: Crowell & Moring today announced that a group of 16 highly regarded health care litigation partners is joining the firm, together with their team, and led by accomplished trial attorney Martin J. Bishop. The strategic combination creates one of the largest health care practices in the country and expands the firm’s ability to provide clients across the industry with the full spectrum of litigation, investigations, regulatory, transactional, and recovery capabilities. The team joins from Reed Smith, where Bishop served on the firm’s executive committee.
