Blue Cross Blue Shield Association will have to pay nearly $100,000 in opposing attorney fees after its in-house counsel improperly removed a medical malpractice suit from state court, a federal judge in Chicago ruled Thursday.

As Blue Cross Blue Shield sought reimbursement from an underlying medical malpractice settlement with 10 out of 11 defendant health care providers, an entangled dispute arose when the insurer removed the entire case—including a motion for adjudication of BCBS’s reimbursement lien and the remaining malpractice claims—from Cook County Circuit Court to the federal court. BCBS removed the action on federal officer grounds and federal question grounds, respectively, under 28 U.S.C. Sections 1442 and 1442. The parties sparred over the removal, with the case eventually reaching the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.