Case v. Miami Beach Healthcare Group, Ltd.

166 F. Supp. 3d 1315, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56108, 2016 WL 1622289
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 26, 2016
DocketCase Number: 14-24583-CIV-MARTINEZ-GOODMAN
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 166 F. Supp. 3d 1315 (Case 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
Case v. Miami Beach Healthcare Group, Ltd., 166 F. Supp. 3d 1315, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56108, 2016 WL 1622289 (S.D. Fla. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS AND DISMISSING SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION

JOSE E. MARTINEZ, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS CAUSE came before the Court upon Defendants Miami Beach Healthcare Group, Ltd. d/b/a Aventura Hospital and Medical Center (“Miami Beach Healthcare”) and HCA-Emcare Holdings, LLC d/b/a Valesco Ventures’ (“Valesco”) (collectively “Defendants”) Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint and to Strike Class Allegations. (D.E. No. 64). Plaintiff Kellie Lynn Case, individually and on behalf of a class of similarly situated individuals, filed her Second Amended Class Action Complaint (“Second Amended Complaint”) against Defendants for breach of express contract, and, alternatively, breach of implied contract or restitution/unjust enrichment arising out of a data breach that affected over 85,000 of the Defendants’ patients. (D.E. No. 58).

Defendants argue that the Court should dismiss the Second Amended Complaint and strike class allegations for three rea[1317]*1317sons. First, Defendants argue that Case lacks Article III standing to bring this action. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). Second, Defendants assert that Case fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Finally, Defendants argue that, even if Case’s Second Amended Complaint survives this Motion to Dismiss, the Court should strike Case’s class action allegations because her claims are atypical of the other members of the class. After careful consideration and for the reasons set forth below, the Court grants the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

I. Factual Background

Defendants jointly work together to provide healthcare services to patients at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center. (D.E. No. 58, PL’s 2d Am. Compl. at ¶ 2). Prior to September 2014, Case received medical care at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center. (Id. at ¶ 33). As part of the patient-admission process, she provided Defendants with sensitive information, including, among other things, her name, date of birth, and protected health information (collectively “sensitive information”). (Id. at ¶¶ 1, 34). Case also agreed to pay Defendants in exchange for any health care services. (Id. at ¶ 34). In return, the Defendants promised to provide her with healthcare services and protect her sensitive information. (Id. at ¶ 33).

Generally, the Defendants store and maintain their patients’ records, including sensitive information, on a commercial database on their servers. (Id. at ¶ 18). In September 2014, the Defendants announced that, sometime during 2012, an employee of Miami Beach Healthcare gained unauthorized access to their patient database, and, over the course of two years, removed the records of over 85,000 patients, including Case. (Id. at ¶¶ 6, 19-21, 37). As a result of this breach, Case claims that she did not receive the entirety of the services for which she paid, and as a result, “she paid more than she otherwise would have.” (Id. at ¶¶ 35, 38). In other words, Case alleges that had she known of Defendants’ “substandard security procedures and methods of protecting and storing her [sensitive [ijnformation,” she would have paid substantially less for the healthcare services she received, or would not have paid at all. (Id. at ¶ 36).

II. Legal Standard

A motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) can be based upon either a facial or factual challenge to the complaint. If the challenge is facial, the plaintiff is left with safeguards similar to those retained when a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is raised. McElmurray v. Consolidated Gov’t of Augusta-Richmond Cty., 501 F.3d 1244, 1251 (11th Cir.2007). Accordingly, the court must consider the allegations in the plaintiffs complaint as true. Id. “A ‘facial attack’ on the complaint ‘require[s] the court merely to look and see if [the] plaintiff has sufficiently alleged a basis of subject matter jurisdiction, and the allegations in [her] complaint are taken as true for the purposes of the motion.” Id. (quoting Lawrence v. Dunbar, 919 F.2d 1525, 1529 (11th Cir.1990)). Factual attacks, however, challenge the existence of subject matter jurisdiction in fact, irrespective of the pleadings, and matters outside the pleadings, such as testimony and affidavits are considered. Id. In sum, a district court has the power to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on any of three separate bases: (1) the complaint alone; (2) the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts evidenced in the record; or (3) the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts, plus the court’s resolution of disput[1318]*1318ed facts. Williamson v. Tucker, 645 F.2d 404, 413 (5th Cir.1981).

III. Discussion

Article III of the U.S. Constitution limits federal courts’ jurisdiction to certain cases and controversies. Clapper v. Amnesty Int’l USA, — U.S. —, 133 S.Ct. 1138, 1147, 185 L.Ed.2d 264 (2013). One element of the case-or-controversy requirement is that a plaintiff must establish that she has standing to sue. Id. In other words, the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing Article III standing. Id. at 1148-49. Specifically, to establish Article III standing, the plaintiff must show that:

(1) [she] has suffered an “injury in fact” that is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical; (2) the injury is fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendants]; and (3) it is likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.

Resnick v. AvMed, Inc., 693 F.3d 1317, 1323 (11th Cir.2012) (quoting Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs. (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 180-81, 120 S.Ct. 693, 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000)). At the pleading stage, general factual allegations of injury resulting from a defendant’s conduct may suffice to establish standing. Resnick, 693 F.3d at 1323. However, a “[f]ailure to satisfy any of these requirements is fatal.” I.L. v. Alabama, 739 F.3d 1273, 1278 (11th Cir.2014).

In Resnick, the Eleventh Circuit held that the plaintiffs, on behalf of their representative class, had standing to sue the defendant, a health care service provider, because the plaintiffs alleged that they suffered a monetary loss as a result of identity theft.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 F. Supp. 3d 1315, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56108, 2016 WL 1622289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/case-v-miami-beach-healthcare-group-ltd-flsd-2016.