The Louisiana Supreme Court has ordered Health Net Inc., a major health maintenance organization, to cover more than $180 million in claims by consumers, health care providers and creditors in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon told The Advocate that Louisiana will get the smallest portion of the payout.

"We have about $12 million coming to us to policyholders, providers and general creditors, meaning companies who sold them supplies or that rented them space," Donelon said.

Donelon said the unanimous ruling, issued Friday, will reimburse all of AmCare Louisiana HMO's members, providers, and creditors for any losses caused by Health Net's conduct.

Health Net sold health plans in the three states to AmCareco Inc. in 1999. In 2002, the troubled health plans were placed under state supervision. Each of the state's insurance departments sued AmCareco and Health Net, alleging fraud, negligence, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty.

In 2005, a state district court jury awarded the Texas plaintiffs around $100 million in damages. In 2005, a state judge in Baton Rouge issued similar verdicts against Health Net and awarded $30 million to the Louisiana and Oklahoma plaintiffs.

Gov. Deval Patrick is set to make his latest pick to the state’s highest court.

The governor has scheduled a Monday afternoon news conference at the Statehouse to nominate an associate justice to the Supreme Judicial Court. If confirmed, the person chosen would succeed Judith Cowin, who in January announced plans to retire after 11 years on the high court.

This will be the fourth associate justice that Patrick has selected to the SJC, meaning that he will now have personally selected a majority of the justices on the seven-member court, the oldest continuously serving court in the Western Hemisphere.

Patrick also elevated Roderick Ireland to chief justice of the SJC following the retirement last year of Margaret Marshall.

A Pennsylvania bus company involved in a crash that killed the driver and a passenger in New Jersey has been taken off the road by federal transportation officials.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken away permission for Super Luxury Tours Inc. to operate.

Speaking at a U.S. Senate hearing in Washington earlier Wednesday, New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg said Super Luxury's safety record is in the bottom 1 percent of motor coach companies.

A bus operated by the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., company crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike as it traveled from New York City's Chinatown to Philadelphia on March 14, killing the 50-year-old driver and a passenger and injuring several other passengers.

Evidence suggests the bus was southbound on the turnpike near Interchange 9 in East Brunswick when the vehicle went off the road onto the grassy median before striking a concrete overpass support. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the driver may have been affected by a medical issue.

The crash occurred just days after a tour bus traveling from an Uncasville, Conn., casino to New York City crashed and killed 15 people.

Several bidders are set to duke it out for Blockbuster Inc. at a bankruptcy auction in New York today. They reportedly include Dish Network Corp. and billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

The movie-rental chain has received several bids other than the opening bid of $290 million from a group of debtholders made in February. Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.

Dish and Icahn have each submitted a bid, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Dish Network declined to comment. Icahn could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jay Indyke, attorney for the committee of unsecured creditors, says several bids had come in but did not specify who they are from.

Icahn has been expected to make a bid. He was part of the group of debtholders that provided Blockbuster financing to operate while in bankruptcy in September. Everyone in that group, except for Icahn, made an opening bid in February, known as a “stalking horse” bid, to buy Blockbuster for $290 million.

Blockbuster used to dominate the U.S. movie rental business. But it lost money for years as that business declined because customers shifted to Netflix Inc., video on demand and DVD rental kiosks.

Prospective bidders are either after Blockbuster’s assets, such as its name, kiosks and movie-download service, or the money they can make from liquidating the brand, analysts said.

A court has overturned a decision granting a new trial to a convicted rapist who claimed his rights were violated when a poem written by the victim was kept out of evidence during trial in Wayne County.

The poem expressing regret about alcohol and sex was written before the woman's encounter with Dustin Wiecek in 1999.

A federal judge says the exclusion hurt Wiecek's ability to fully confront his accuser at trial about her personal life. But a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday disagreed, saying Wiecek's lawyer had much opportunity to challenge the woman's credibility.

Wiecek was accused of using GHB, known as a date-rape drug. He's already served 41 months in prison, more than the minimum sentence. He's been free on bond since fall 2009.