City of Orlando Police Pension Fund v. Page

970 F. Supp. 2d 1022, 2013 WL 5402087, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139904
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedSeptember 26, 2013
DocketNo. C 13-2038 PJH
StatusPublished
Cited by119 cases

This text of 970 F. Supp. 2d 1022 (City of Orlando Police Pension Fund v. Page) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Orlando Police Pension Fund v. Page, 970 F. Supp. 2d 1022, 2013 WL 5402087, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139904 (N.D. Cal. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS

PHYLLIS J. HAMILTON, United States District Judge.

Defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs verified consolidated shareholder derivative complaint came on for hearing before this court on July 24, 2013. Plaintiff City of Orlando Police Pension Fund (“plaintiff’) appeared through its counsel, Ian Berg. Individual defendants and nominal party Google, Inc. (collectively “defendants”) appeared through their counsel, Boris Feldman and Elizabeth Peterson. Having read the parties’ papers and carefully considered their arguments and the relevant legal authority, and good cause appearing, the court hereby DENIES defendants’ motion as follows.

BACKGROUND

This is a shareholder derivative action on behalf of nominal defendant Google, Inc. (“Google”), against nine members of Google’s Board of Directors.1 Plaintiff alleges that defendants allowed certain Canadian pharmacies to advertise via Google’s search engine for the sale of prescription medications to be imported into the United States, which advertisements were unlawful, and which resulted in the entry of a non-prosecution agreement (“NPA”) between Google and the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ” ), and the payment by Google of a $500 million fine. See generally Verified Consolidated Shareholder Derivative Complaint (“Complaint”).

Plaintiff alleges that Google, who operates the world’s most popular Internet search service, earns revenue primarily through paid advertising. See Complaint, ¶ 1. Plaintiff further alleges that defendants allowed Google to facilitate the placing of advertisements by online Canadian pharmaceutical companies soliciting the sale of prescription drugs in the United States, in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Controlled Substances Act. Id., ¶¶ 2, 3.

Plaintiff alleges that defendants were warned that the shipment of drugs into the U.S. by Canadian pharmacies violated federal law. For example, on March 13, 2003, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (“NABP”) warned Google that “the importation of prescription drugs from foreign countries generally violates” federal law. Complaint, ¶ 30. While Google did eventually retain two companies (Square Trade and PharmacyChecker) to verify online pharmacies, plaintiff alleges that Google “knowingly permitted Square Trade to verify Canadian online pharmacies that merely self-certified that they [1025]*1025were in compliance with applicable U.S. regulations,” and “also knowingly permitted PharmacyChecker to certify Canadian online pharmacies that sold prescription drugs.” Id., ¶ 36. The NABP sent a second warning letter to Google on December 23, 2008, writing that “a third-party verification service that Google uses to screen prescription drug Web sites has certified several pharmacy Web sites that source their prescription drugs from various locations outside of the United States (Canada and elsewhere), which is contrary to U.S. law.” Id., ¶ 41. Google also received a warning from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (“CASA”) on July 7, 2008, stating that it “was able to find prominent displays of ads for rogue Internet pharmacies in a Google search for controlled drugs,” which suggested that “Google is profiting from advertisements for illegal sales of controlled prescription drugs online.” Id., ¶ 40.

Plaintiff further alleges that Google’s employees were aware that Canadian online pharmacies were circumventing the Square Trade and PharmacyChecker certification process, and points to a February 13, 2008 email from a member of Google’s policy group stating that “[t]he only ads that are getting blocked are those with explicit pharma terms in the ad texts; the shady fraudulent advertisers know not to do this.” Complaint, ¶ 50.

Plaintiff alleges that Google did nothing to block Canadian pharmacy ads until 2009, when it became aware of the DOJ investigation. Ultimately, Google entered into the NPA, which admitted wrongdoing and stated that Google “was on notice that most Canadian online pharmacy advertisers ... geo-targeted their advertisements to consumers in the United States and imported into the United States both controlled prescription drugs, in violation of [the Controlled Substances Act], and misbranded and unapproved prescription drugs, in violation of [the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act].” Complaint, ¶ 54. Google further admitted that “it improperly assisted Canadian online 'pharmacy advertisers to run these advertisements that geo-targeted the United States” and stated that it “accepts responsibility for the Company’s conduct.” Id. As stated above, the NPA provided for Google to forfeit $500 million to the U.S. government. Id., ¶ 54.

Plaintiff alleges that defendants owed Google and its shareholders (of which plaintiff is one) the fiduciary duties of loyalty (including duties of candor and good faith) and care. Complaint, ¶ 70. As part of those duties, defendants were required to ensure that Google complied with all federal laws relating to the importation of drugs into the U.S. and were required to maintain controls and policies to ensure that Google complied with those laws. Id. Plaintiff alleges that defendants breached their fiduciary duty of care in failing to perform their oversight duties as directors of the company, in failing to ensure the company’s compliance with federal law, and in failing to ensure that a reasonable reporting system existed to elevate material issues to the board. Id., ¶ 72. Plaintiff further alleges that the “senior executive defendants” (i.e., Page, Brin, and Schmidt) breached their duty of loyalty by consciously failing to stop the company from engaging in the unlawful conduct, described in the complaint and by affirmatively permitting Canadian online pharmacies to advertise via Google’s search engine. Id., ¶ 71. As a result of these alleged breaches, plaintiff claims that Google has suffered significant harm and is entitled to damages. Id., ¶ 73.

Before filing suit, plaintiff made a demand on the board to take steps to investigate and hold the senior executives and directors responsible for Google’s alleged [1026]*1026violations of federal law. Complaint, ¶ 63. Specifically, plaintiff demanded that the board take appropriate action to obtain a recovery for the company and take additional steps to prevent the recurrence of similar wrongdoing in the future. Id. On April 11, 2012, the board created a committee, consisting of director Diane B. Greene (“Greene”) and defendant Mather, to investigate plaintiffs demand. Id., ¶ 64. The committee ultimately refused the demand in a six-page letter to plaintiff (referred to as the “demand refusal letter” or “DRL”). The letter cited to the committee’s full 149-page report, but did not include a copy of the report (which has not been made public). Id., ¶ 65.

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Bluebook (online)
970 F. Supp. 2d 1022, 2013 WL 5402087, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139904, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-orlando-police-pension-fund-v-page-cand-2013.