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Shannen Doherty Claims Breast Cancer Made Worse By Management Firm's Mistake
Shannon Doherty in 2014 (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)
Actress Shannen Doherty is suing her former financial management company, saying that their failure to pay her insurance premiums caused her to skip doctor's visits while—unbeknownst to her—cancer was spreading inside her body. Shannen Doherty, 44, is suing Tanner, Mainstain, Glynn & Johnson as well as former partner Steve D. Blatt, accusing them of breach of contract, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, PEOPLE reports.
According to the suit filed today in L.A. County Superior Court, the Beverly Hills 90201 and Charmed star paid the firm 5 percent of her income to handle her money, first beginning her agreement with them in 2009. However, she says that the firm made some major mistakes in the last few years. Namely, they didn't pay her medical insurance premiums for 2014.
The suit says that the Screen Actors Guild sent the invoice for her insurance premium to the firm in November of 2013. She alleges that the firm didn't pay it, didn't tell her, and then "promptly terminated their relationship with [Doherty] effective February 7, 2014." Doherty's medical insurance was cancelled, and because she couldn't enroll again until 2015, she didn't go to the doctor as routinely as she would have if she had been insured. In March 2015, doctors told her that she had "invasive breast cancer metastatic to at least one lymph node," and that the cancer spread throughout 2014. The suit also says that she was told that "had [Doherty] been insured and able to visit her doctor, the cancer could potentially have been stopped, thus obviating the need for the future treatment (including mastectomy and chemotherapy) that Plaintiff will likely have to suffer through now."
The suit also alleged that when a property Doherty owns was damaged by a storm that she received an insurance settlement, and that the firm just pocketed it.
The suit says: "In truth, the firm and former partner Blatt specialize in fleecing actors and entertainment industry professionals. After gaining control of all of their clients' cash and assets, they find a way to lose it, sometimes by gross incompetence, sometimes by self-dealing and outright theft. Along the way, they habitually deceive their clients, goings far as to set up bogus transactions, to conceal their misdeeds, errors and omissions. The firm has hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme."
A representative from the firm told PEOPLE:
"Tanner Mainstain is saddened to learn that Ms. Doherty is suffering from cancer and wishes her a full recovery. However, the claim that Tanner Mainstain caused her to be uninsured, prevented her from seeking medical care, or somehow contributed to her cancer is patently false. Tanner Mainstain will aggressively defend all of Ms. Doherty's claims in court."
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