BY ANNA WILDE MATHEWS

A state court upheld a Maine official’s decision to deny a profit margin for a WellPoint Inc. unit in a health-insurance rate request”a ruling that may resonate in other states where regulators are battling premium hikes.

Thomas E. Humphrey, chief justice of the Maine superior court, wrote that the approved 2009 rate for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s individual health-insurance product line met the state’s legal standard and wasn’t “inadequate,” as the company argued in …