Chemence Medical Products, Inc. v. Medline Industries, Inc.

989 F. Supp. 2d 1349, 2013 WL 6328844, 112 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7245, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171276
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 5, 2013
DocketCivil Action File No. 1:13-CV-500-TWT
StatusPublished

This text of 989 F. Supp. 2d 1349 (Chemence Medical Products, Inc. v. Medline Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chemence Medical Products, Inc. v. Medline Industries, Inc., 989 F. Supp. 2d 1349, 2013 WL 6328844, 112 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7245, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171276 (N.D. Ga. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

THOMAS W. THRASH, JR., District Judge.

The Plaintiff, a manufacturer of medical adhesives, entered into a long-term contract to sell the adhesives to the Defendant, a distributor of medical supplies. After the contract went into effect, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act imposed a 2.3 percent tax on all medical devices. The Plaintiff initially passed this cost on to the Defendant. The Defendant, however, refused to pay the cost and notified the-Plaintiff that the price increase was prohibited by the parties’ agreement. The Plaintiff filed suit seeking a declaration that the medical device tax should be assessed against the Defendant distributor. The Defendant has moved for a judgment on the pleadings with respect to the declaratory relief, arguing that the Plaintiff is responsible for the tax pursuant to the Act and pursuant to the agreement between the parties. Because a fair interpretation of the Act indicates that the tax falls on manufacturers, the Defendant’s motion for partial judgment on the pleadings should be granted.

I. Background

This dispute is between Chemence Medical Products, Inc. (“Chemence”), a producer of specialized medical adhesives, and Medline Industries, Inc. (“Medline”), a distributor of medical devices and products. The parties’ broad dispute concerns a supply agreement entered into on August 1, 2010, under which Chemence supplies Medline with all of Medline’s adhesive requirements (the “Supply Agreement”), and the parties’ conduct after the agreement went into effect. Within the broad dispute, the parties have a narrower dispute, relevant to this motion, concerning whether the medical device tax (the “Device Tax”) imposed as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) must be imposed on the Plaintiff as manufacturer and whether the tax may be reflected as a price increase pursuant to the Supply Agreement.

The ACA “imposed on the sale of any taxable medical device by the manufacturer, producer, or importer a tax equal to 2.3 percent of the price for which so sold.” 26 U.S.C. § 4191(a). “Under section 4191(a), tax is imposed on the sale of any taxable medical device by the manufacturer, pro[1351]*1351ducer, or importer of the device.” 26 C.F.R. § 48.4191-1(a). And “[t]he manufacturer, producer, or importer making the sale of a taxable medical device is liable for the tax imposed by section 4191(a).” 26 C.F.R. § 48.4191-1(c). The Defendant contends the Plaintiff is a manufacturer under the ACA and is therefore liable for the Device Tax, and that the Plaintiffs imposition of the tax on the Defendant was a violation of the Supply Agreement.

The Supply Agreement itself provides a Transfer Price for the adhesives. “Transfer Price” is defined as “the price per Unit that Medline will pay Chemence for Products and Media as set forth in Section 5” of the Supply Agreement. (Def.’s Mot. for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings, Ex. 1, the “Supply Agreement,” § 1(0)). There is no other definition for a price term. Section 5.2 provides that “Product shall be sold by Chemence to Medline at the Transfer Price of: $5.50 through December 31, 2012.” (Id. at § 5.2). Chemence has the right to raise the Transfer Price if Medline failed to purchase its minimum annual commitment, as set forth in Section 5.5. (Id. §§ 5.2, 5.5). The Supply Agreement also provided a mechanism for increasing the Transfer Price every January 1st:

Transfer Price can change annually to reflect changes in raw material, labor costs or manufacturing, provided Chemence gives Medline at least thirty (30) days prior written notice, pursuant to the following formula:
Before the end of the first year of this Agreement, Chemence will calculate and provide Medline with a current Unit Cost (“UC”) that includes Direct Material Cost (“DMC”), Direct Labor (“DL”) and Overhead (“OH”). A new UC will be calculated by Chemence considering changes in the DMC, DL, and OH on an annual basis commencing January 1, 2013, and each subsequent January 1st to determine the Percentage Variance (“PV”) in Unit Cost as a positive or negative. The new Transfer Price is determined by multiplying the current Transfer Price by the PV.

(Id. at § 5.6). Section 5.6 further provided Medline the right to review the changes in price and terminate the agreement within 30 -days of a Transfer Price increase. (Id.) Finally, Section 5.8 provided that:

Chemence agrees that Transfer Prices charged to Medline for the Products shall be no less than 15% less than the lowest net price charged for Products sold to other distributors permitted in this Agreement. Charges to Medline pursuant to sections 5.5 and 5.6 herein above shall not be considered in determining such best price.

(Id. at § 5.8). Chemence argues that these provisions allow it to pass the cost of the Device Tax onto Medline.

In March 2010, Congress passed the ACA. The Supply Agreement went into effect on August 1, 2010. In late 2012, the Plaintiff informed Medline that it intended to charge Medline the amount of the Device Tax. And beginning on January 1, 2013, the Plaintiff began charging Medline the tax as a liné item for 2.3% of the cost of each item purchased by Medline. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 52, 55). Medline objected to the increased charges and sent a letter to Chemence stating that Medline considered the increase in price a “breach of Section 5.6 of the Supply Agreement ... which only allows the price to increase ‘to reflect changes in raw materials, labor costs or manufacturing.’ ” (Am. Counterclaim ¶ 23; Ex. 4). The Plaintiffs counsel responded that Chemence did not consider the newly imposed tax a price increase. (Id. at ¶ 27; Ex. 5). Chemence states it has stopped charging Medline for the Device Tax and [1352]*1352has been paying the amount to the IRS itself. (Am. Compl. ¶ 59).

Chemence filed suit on February 15, 2013, and amended its complaint on February 28, 2013. Count II of the amended complaint seeks a declaratory judgment with respect to the assessment of the Device Tax. Specifically, Chemence seeks two declarations: (1) “whether the [Device Tax] is a price increase according to the terms of the Agreement or a mandatory and separate charge to Medline pursuant to law”; and (2) if the Court determines the Device Tax is a price increase, “whether Medline has the right to conduct an inspection of Chemence’s relevant books and records in order to confirm the requested price increase and/or reject any such price increase and terminate the Agreement on 30 days written notice, with no further liability pursuant to Section 5.6.” (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 48-63).

The Defendant filed this motion seeking a partial judgment on the pleadings. The Defendant seeks judgment on the Plaintiffs request for declaratory relief. Specifically, the Defendant seeks a determination that “(1) Plaintiff, the manufacturer of the subject medical device, is not required by law to pass along to Medline, a distributor of the subject device, the amount of the excise tax imposed on manufacturers of medical devices as a mandatory and separate charge; and (2) the [device] tax is a price increase that is not

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989 F. Supp. 2d 1349, 2013 WL 6328844, 112 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7245, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chemence-medical-products-inc-v-medline-industries-inc-gand-2013.