Edgar v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedFebruary 11, 2025
Docket2:22-cv-02501
StatusUnknown

This text of Edgar v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd. (Edgar v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edgar v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd., (D. Kan. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS

DENA BURGE, LEIGH HOCKETT, JORDAN FURLAN, CRISTINE RIDEY, PATRICIA SAWCZUK, and ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Case No. 22-cv-2501-DDC-TJJ

Plaintiffs,

v.

TEVA PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES, LTD., TEVA PHARMACEUTICALS USA, INC., TEVA PARENTERAL MEDICINES, INC., TEVA NEUROSCIENCE, INC., TEVA SALES & MARKETING, INC., and CEPHALON, INC.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on Defendants’ Motion to Compel Discovery Responses (ECF No. 132). Defendants request an order, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a), overruling the objections of Plaintiffs Burge, Hockett, Furlan, and Anne Arundel County (collectively “Plaintiffs”)1 to Defendants’ First Sets of Requests for Production (“RFPs”) and Interrogatories, and compelling production of responsive documents, complete responsive answers, or appropriate privilege log entries. As explained below, Defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.

1 Defendants do not move to compel with respect to the two other plaintiffs, Ridey and Sawczuk, who were added as parties on November 5, 2024, by the filing of the Corrected Second Amended Class Action Complaint (ECF No. 129). All references herein to “Plaintiffs” therefore exclude plaintiffs Ridey and Sawczuk. Defendants state in their motion they served “comparable” discovery on these two new plaintiffs on November 5, 2024, but discovery responses were not served by these plaintiffs until December 5, 2024, after this motion was filed. Certifs. of Service (ECF Nos. 103 and 145). I. Nature of the Case and Background Relevant to the Discovery Dispute Plaintiffs—representing a proposed class—allege Defendants and their co-conspirators entered an unlawful reverse payment settlement and conspired to safeguard their monopoly on Nuvigil, a wakefulness drug with the generic name Armodafinil. Plaintiffs allege Defendants agreed to stay out of the EpiPen market, allowing Mylan and Pfizer to maintain their EpiPen

monopoly. In exchange, Plaintiffs contend, Mylan and Pfizer agreed to stay out of the Nuvigil market, allowing Defendants to maintain their Nuvigil monopoly.2 Based on these factual allegations, Plaintiffs assert four claims: (1) a Sherman Act claim; (2) claims for Conspiracy and Combination in Restraint of Trade under various state laws; (3) claims for Monopolization and Monopolistic Scheme under various state laws; and (4) a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) claim.3 Early in the case, Defendants filed motions to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims as barred by the statute of limitations.4 On March 26, 2024, Judge Crabtree denied the motion to dismiss but suggested a bifurcated approach to discovery with initial discovery focused on the pivotal issue of timeliness.5

At the June 13, 2024 scheduling conference, the parties discussed bifurcation of discovery and indicated their positions on the scope of initial discovery regarding the timeliness issue. The Court thereafter entered an order requiring discovery in Phase I be bifurcated and limited to the

2 Most of this factual background summary of the case is taken from District Judge Crabtree’s Nov. 6, 2024 Mem. & Order (ECF No. 131). 3 Corrected Second Am. Class Action Compl. (ECF No. 129) filed on Nov. 5, 2024. 4 ECF Nos. 33 and 47. 5 Mem. & Order (ECF No. 74) at 40. timeliness of Plaintiffs’ claims under the applicable statute of limitations (“Timeliness/Limitations discovery”).6 On July 15, 2024, the Court entered the Phase I Scheduling Order, which reflected the parties’ agreement that Phase I Timeliness/ Limitations discovery is limited to:

[T]he timeliness of Plaintiffs’ claims under the applicable statutes of limitations and any related statute-of-limitations issues, facts, and circumstances, including Defendants’ statute of limitations defense or defenses (and the elements thereof) and the issues of tolling, equitable tolling, and fraudulent concealment (and the elements thereof).7 On August 16, 2024, Defendants served their first set of twenty-one RFPs on each Plaintiff and first set of ten Interrogatories on plaintiff Anne Arundel County (“Anne Arundel”) and five Interrogatories on plaintiffs Burge, Hockett, and Furlan (“Consumer Plaintiffs.”)8 On September 20, 2024, Plaintiffs served their responses and objections to Defendants’ First RFPs and Interrogatories.9 On October 1, 2024, Defendants sent a letter to Plaintiffs regarding deficiencies in the discovery responses.10 The parties conferred on October 10, 17 and 18, 2024.11 On October 17 and 18, 2024, the parties contacted chambers requesting a D. Kan. Rule 37.1(a) pre-motion discovery conference on their respective anticipated discovery-related

6 Order Regarding Phase I Disc. (ECF No. 88). Phase I discovery was also allowed on the issue of personal jurisdiction over Teva Israel. 7 Phase I Sch. Order (ECF No. 92). 8 Defendants initially served their first sets of RFPs and Interrogatories on each of the seven plaintiffs then in the case: Edgar, Burge, Hockett, Furlan, Gilomen-Study, UHA Health Insurance, and Anne Arundel County. In this motion, Defendants only seek to compel with respect to Consumer Plaintiffs and Anne Arundel, as the three former plaintiffs (Edgar, Gilomen-Study, and UHA Health Insurance) no longer assert claims in the Corrected Second Amended Class Action Complaint (ECF No. 129) and are no longer parties in this case. 9 Pls.’ Certif. of Service (ECF No. 110). 10 Oct. 1, 2024 Letter (ECF No. 144-1) at 7–12. 11 Chase Decl. ¶ 4 (ECF No. 144-1). motions.12 The Court held the discovery conference on October 28, 2024, but only discussed Plaintiffs’ anticipated motion to compel discovery. With respect to Defendants’ anticipated discovery-related motion, the Court ordered the parties to further confer after Defendants reviewed Plaintiffs’ amended discovery responses, extended Defendants’ filing deadline, and waived the pre-motion discovery conference requirement.13

On October 29, 2024, Plaintiffs served amended objections and responses to Defendants’ RFPs and Interrogatories. Defendants sent another deficiency letter on October 31, 2024.14 On November 4, 2024, Plaintiffs served their second amended objections and responses. Defendants sent an email on November 5, 2024, asserting Plaintiffs’ second amended objections and responses still suffered from many of the deficiencies laid out in Defendants’ prior deficiency letters.15 This motion followed. II. Duty to Confer Requirement As a threshold matter, the Court addresses Plaintiffs’ argument that Defendants’ motion should be denied for failure to confer or provide the required certification. Although Defendants’ motion does not contain a certification,16 it does describe their efforts, as set out above, to confer

12 Plaintiffs previously served their own set of discovery requests on Defendants and the parties meet and confer efforts included discussions regarding Defendants’ responses and objections to Plaintiffs’ requests. 13 Oct. 29, 2024 Disc. Conf. Order (ECF No. 126) at 2–3. 14 Oct. 29, 2024 Letter (ECF No. 144-1) at 18–21. 15 Nov. 5, 2024 Email (ECF No. 144-1) at 23. 16 See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1) (requiring a motion to compel discovery to “include a certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the . . . party failing to make disclosure or discovery in an effort to obtain it without court action”); D. Kan. Rule 37.2 (“Every certification required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Edgar v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edgar-v-teva-pharmaceuticals-industries-ltd-ksd-2025.