Bleecher v. Bayer Corp.

779 F. Supp. 2d 846
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 11, 2011
DocketMDL No. 2100; No. 3:09-md-02100-DRH-PMF
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 779 F. Supp. 2d 846 (Bleecher v. Bayer Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bleecher v. Bayer Corp., 779 F. Supp. 2d 846 (S.D. Ill. 2011).

Opinion

ORDER

DAVID R. HERNDON, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Both of the above captioned cases are multi-plaintiff actions originally brought in California State Court against various Bayer entities (collectively, the “Bayer Defendants”) (all non-California citizens), and McKesson Corporation (“McKesson”) (a [848]*848citizen of California and Delaware). The gravamen of Plaintiffs’ claims is that the Bayer Defendants made false representations and concealed material facts concerning the safety and efficacy of YAZ, Yasmin, and/or Ocella.

The virtually identical complaints assert product liability claims 1 sounding in negligence, strict liability, breach of express and implied warranties, and fraud/misrepresentation as well as a claim for alleged violations of California’s consumer protection laws (Brambila Doc. 1-4; Bleecher Doc. 1, Doc. l-l).2 In both actions, all of the claims are directed generically against all of the Defendants.

The Plaintiffs have no connection with one another — each received medication prescribed by different doctors, dispensed by different pharmacies, at different times, and in different locations. Two of the Plaintiffs in Brambila (Plaintiffs Brambila and Johnson) and one of the Plaintiffs in Bleecher (Plaintiff Bleecher) are citizens of California (Brambila, 3:10-cv~20248 Doc. 1-4 ¶¶ 2, 20; Bleecher, 3:10-cv-20382 Doc. 1 p. 28 ¶ 2). The remaining Plaintiffs are citizens of Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, Arizona, Tennessee, Michigan, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Florida, South Dakota, and Georgia.

McKesson, the only non-diverse defendant, is a wholesale distributor of prescription medications that purchases pharmaceuticals for sale to retail pharmacies.3 The only allegation with regard to McKes[849]*849son is that McKesson sold the subject drugs to Plaintiffs’ respective pharmacies (Bleecher Doc. 1 p. 34 ¶ 27 (“Upon information and belief, MCKESSON CORPORATION distributed the Yasmin ingested by the Plaintiffs.”); Brambila Doc. 1-4 ¶ 36 (same)).4 Neither complaint identifies any particular act of fraud or negligence by McKesson, any particular representation by McKesson, or any other actionable conduct on the part of McKesson that could be the basis for a claim of negligence, fraud, or breach of express warranty-

The Bayer Defendants removed both actions to federal district court in California on the basis of diversity jurisdiction, arguing that some of the non-California Plaintiffs fraudulently joined McKesson and that the claims of the Plaintiffs were misjoined. Plaintiffs moved for remand to state court, arguing that there is no misjoinder, the claims against McKesson are viable, and that complete diversity does not exist. Both actions were subsequently transferred to this Multidistrict Litigation (“MDL”) with Plaintiffs’ remand motions pending.5

II. ANALYSIS

A. Overview

There is no dispute that ten of the Brambila Plaintiffs (including two California citizens) and six of the Bleecher Plaintiffs (including one California citizen) have asserted viable claims against McKesson. The parties disagree with regard to (1) whether four of the Brambila Plaintiffs and three of the Bleecher Plaintiffs (collectively, the “Disputed Plaintiffs”) fraudulently joined McKesson, as well as the substantive law governing the Disputed Plaintiffs’ claims and (2) whether the Court may sever and remand only a portion of the Plaintiffs’ claims based on the doctrine of procedural misjoinder.

As is explained more fully below, even assuming all of the Disputed Plaintiffs fraudulently joined McKesson, complete diversity does not exist because the California Plaintiffs have asserted viable claims against McKesson. Accordingly, traditional notions of fraudulent joinder are not a basis for removal jurisdiction in the above captioned cases. The above captioned cases are only removable if the Court recognizes the procedural misjoinder doctrine as a basis for exercising removal jurisdiction. Application of this doctrine would allow the Court to “create” diversity by severing misjoined claims pri- or to assessing whether complete diversity exists.

For these reasons, the Court need not resolve the parties’ disagreement with regard to the Disputed Plaintiffs’ alleged fraudulent joinder of McKesson and the related choice of law issue. Instead, the Court need only determine whether the [850]*850procedural misjoinder doctrine should be applied. In summary, although the Court has significant concerns about the structuring of the above captioned cases, the Court concludes that adopting the procedural misjoinder doctrine would be an improper judicial expansion of federal jurisdiction. Accordingly, the Court finds that the above captioned cases lack complete diversity and must be remanded to state court.

B. Fraudulent Joinder

1. California Plaintiffs

There is no doubt that the claims of the three California Plaintiffs (two Plaintiffs in Brambila and one Plaintiff in Bleecher) are governed by the substantive law of California. In previous remand orders in this MDL, the Court has concluded that, under California law, a non-manufacturing defendant such as McKesson could be held strictly liable based solely on its role as a seller in the chain of distribution of an allegedly defective product. See e.g., In re Yasmin & Yaz (DROSPIRENONE) Mktg., Sales Practices & Prods. Liab. Litig., 2010 WL 1963202, *3-4 (S.D.Ill. May 14, 2010) (Herndon, D.). See also Bostick v. Flex Equip. Co., Inc., 147 Cal.App.4th 80, 54 Cal.Rptr.3d 28, 34 (2007) (California “imposes strict liability in tort on all of the participants in the chain of distribution of a defective product.”).

In the instant eases (unlike previous similarly situated actions in this MDL), the Plaintiffs have alleged that McKesson supplied the pills they ingested. Accordingly, under California law, the California Plaintiffs have pled at least one viable cause of action against McKesson; namely, strict product liability based solely on McKesson’s role in the chain of distribution. Although the Bayer Defendants disagree with the Court’s interpretation of California law with regard to pharmaceutical distributors, they acknowledge that, in light of this Court’s prior decisions, the California Plaintiffs have not fraudulently joined McKesson.

2. Non-California Plaintiffs

a. Citizens of Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Florida

The Bayer Defendants concede that the Massachusetts (one Bleecher Plaintiff), New York (two Bleecher Plaintiffs), Arizona (two Brambila Plaintiffs and one Bleecher Plaintiff), New Hampshire (two Brambila Plaintiffs), Oklahoma (two Brambila Plaintiffs), and Florida (two Brambila Plaintiffs and one Bleecher Plaintiff) Plaintiffs have stated one or more viable claims against McKesson.6 As there is no dispute with regard to the viability of the claims brought by these Plaintiffs, the Court presumes that these Plaintiffs have not fraudulently joined McKesson.

b.

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Related

In Re Yasmin & Yaz (Drospirenone)
779 F. Supp. 2d 846 (S.D. Illinois, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
779 F. Supp. 2d 846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bleecher-v-bayer-corp-ilsd-2011.