U.S. District Court Judge Federico Moreno recently signed off on two settlements reached by Health Net and Prudential Financial Services, two of the managed care companies involved in the massive class-action lawsuit by thousands of physicians. This brings the number of settlements approved by Moreno to four in the class-action lawsuit against 10 of the nation's largest HMOs. This settlement provides that Health Net will pay $40 million to active and retired doctors, and will spend an estimated $80 million to improve the process of dealing with doctors' claims submissions. Prudential will pay $22.2 million for managed care improvements. Health Net will pay $20 million in doctors' attorney fees, and Prudential will pay $5 million. WellPoint Health Networks and Anthem also have reached tentative settlements. The trial is scheduled in January 2006 for the four remaining managed care companies -- Coventry, United Healthcare, Humana and PacifiCare -- but negotiations to reach settlements are ongoing, and more settlements are expected before the trial date.