Brush v. Miami Beach Healthcare Group Ltd.

238 F. Supp. 3d 1359, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57011, 2017 WL 1325534
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 17, 2017
DocketCASE NO. 16-21373-CIV-LENARD/GOODMAN
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 238 F. Supp. 3d 1359 (Brush v. Miami Beach Healthcare Group Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brush v. Miami Beach Healthcare Group Ltd., 238 F. Supp. 3d 1359, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57011, 2017 WL 1325534 (S.D. Fla. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS (D.E. 21) AND DISMISSING COUNTS TWO, THREE AND FOUR WITHOUT PREJUDICE

JOAN A. LENARD, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS CAUSE is before the Court on Miami Beach Healthcare Group, LTD and HCA-EmCare Holdings, LLC’s (hereinafter, “Defendants”) Motion to Dismiss (D.E. 21), filed on June 10, 2016. Barbara Brush (hereinafter, “Plaintiff’) filed her Response in Opposition (D.E. 44) on July 8, 2016. Defendants filed their Reply on July 26, 2016. (D.E. 61.) Having reviewed the Motion to Dismiss and response and reply thereto, the Court finds as follows.

I. Background

Defendants jointly provide healthcare services to patients at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center in South Florida. (D.E. 1, Pl.’s Compl. at ¶¶ 13 and 14). In October 2008, Plaintiff was admitted to Defendants’ hospital to receive medical treatment. (Id. at ¶ 43). As part of the patient-admission process, she provided Defendants with sensitive information, including, among other things: her name, date of birth, social security number and protected health information. (Id. at ¶¶ 44 and 90.) Plaintiff paid Defendants for their services. (Id. at ¶ 33.)

In September 2014, nearly six years after Plaintiff had received treatment, Defendants informed their patients that a hospital employee, who was unauthorized to do so, had been accessing patients’ sensitive information. (Id. at ¶ 8.) This security breach persisted between September 13, 2012 and June 9, 2014. (Id.)

Defendants’ employee subsequently disclosed and/or sold Plaintiffs information to a third party. (Id at ¶ 50.) Thereafter, the third party used Plaintiffs personal data to steal her identity and file a fraudulent tax return using her name and Social Security number. (Id.)

After her identity was stolen, Plaintiff spent (and continues to spend) time and resources remedying the harmful effects and mitigating future harm. (Id at ¶ 61.) Prior to her visit to Defendants’ hospital, Plaintiffs identity had never been stolen and she took considerable precautions to protect her private data. (|d at ¶ 52-53.) Specifically, Plaintiff avoided transmitting her sensitive information over insecure sources, she stored documents containing private data in a safe and secure location and she destroyed any documents that she received in the mail that contained any identifying information. (Id.)

On April 18, 2016, Plaintiff filed a four-count Complaint for negligence, breach of contract, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment. (D.E. 1.) She claims that:

Defendants [failed to] comply with safeguards mandated by HIPAA regulations, Florida law or industry standards.
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Defendants failed to implement sufficient information security policies and procedures to (1) protect (e.g., via encryption) or otherwise safeguard their patients’ electronically-stored Sensitive Information; (2) restrict access (i.e., segment) their electronic database to [1363]*1363limit access to such Sensitive Information to only those employees and personnel that need to access such information for treatment related reasons; and (3) supervise employees and personnel with access to patient Sensitive Information and enforce their data protection and confidentiality policies.

(Id. at ¶ 28.) Plaintiff claims that because of the Defendants’ security failures, her identity was stolen. She seeks damages for the purported economic and non-economic damages she has suffered as a result of a third party stealing her identity and filing a false tax return in her name.

In response, the Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss. (D.E. 21.) They argue that the Court should dismiss Plaintiffs Complaint and strike class allegations because: (1) Plaintiff lacks Article III standing to bring this action, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1); (2) Plaintiff fails to state claims upon which relief may be granted, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6); (3) the statute of limitation bars the Plaintiff from seeking relief; and (4) Plaintiffs class action allegations are atypical of the other members of the class. (Id.)

Plaintiff replied, asserting that she satisfies Article Ill’s standing requirements because she had suffered a concrete injury that can be remedied by this lawsuit. (D.E. 44.) She further argues that she has successfully pleaded the elements of negligence, breach of contract, breach of implied contract and quantum meruit. (Id.)

II. Legal Standards

A. Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) governs motions to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Standing to bring suit is an essential component of a federal court’s subject matter jurisdiction. Clapper v. Amnesty Int’l USA, 568 U.S. 398, 133 S.Ct. 1138, 1146, 185 L.Ed.2d

264 (2013). Standing “determin[es] the power of the court to entertain the suit.” Hollywood Mobile Estates Ltd. v. Seminole Tribe of Florida, 641 F.3d 1259, 1265 (11th Cir. 2011) (quoting Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975)); see also Stalley ex rel. United States v. Orlando Regl Healthcare Sys., Inc., 524 F.3d 1229, 1232 (11th Cir. 2008) (per curiam). As in any case, the Court must “first determine whether it has proper subject matter jurisdiction before addressing the substantive issues.” Taylor v. Appleton, 30 F.3d 1365, 1366 (11th Cir. 1994).

B. Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a court may dismiss an action for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” To survive a motion to dismiss, the complaint “must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v, Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. “A formulaic recitation of the elements of the cause of action will not do,” id. at 1949 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955), and the allegations must include “more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfuHy-harmed-me-aceusation.” Iqbal 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

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238 F. Supp. 3d 1359, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57011, 2017 WL 1325534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brush-v-miami-beach-healthcare-group-ltd-flsd-2017.