Good v. BioLife Plasma Services, L.P.

District Court, E.D. Michigan·Decided December 20, 2022·No. 1:18-cv-11260·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN NORTHERN DIVISION

TENLEY MCLAUGHLIN GOOD,

Plaintiff, Case No. 1:18-cv-11260

v. Honorable Thomas L. Ludington United States District Judge BIOLIFE PLASMA SERVICES, L.P. and SHIRE US, INC.,

Defendants. _________________________________________/ ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION AND DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE REPLY

One drop of blood set this case in motion. Screening her for a plasma donation, Sylvia Roberts pricked Plaintiff Tenley Good’s finger to collect a capillary sample. Within seconds, Plaintiff fainted, fell from the swivel chair, and then hit her head. One week later, she left the hospital diagnosed with postconcussive symptoms, hearing loss, and personality changes. Plaintiff is suing the plasma-donation center for negligence and has two doctors who treated her. Dr. Thomas O’Hara, who passed away in November 2020, was Plaintiff’s treating neurosurgeon and diagnosed her with a basilar skull fracture. Dr. Katherine Heidenreich is an otolaryngologist who diagnosed Plaintiff with possible superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD).1 Defendant’s motion to limit the testimony of both doctors was denied. Defendants have since filed a motion for reconsideration arguing error in the denial of their motion and a motion for leave to reply to it. Both will be denied.

1 Superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD) “is a medical condition of the inner ear causing hearing and balance symptoms” and “is caused by a thinning or a complete absence of the part of the temporal bone overlying the superior semicircular canal of the vestibular system.” 36 No. 10 Verdicts, Settlements & Tactics NL 31. I. In October 2015, Plaintiff Tenley McLaughlin Good went to donate plasma at a center operated by Defendant BioLife Plasma Services. See Good v. Biolife Plasma Servs., L.P., No. 18- 11260, 2020 WL 736005, at *3 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 13, 2020). Plaintiff sat in a swivel chair across the counter from BioLife employee Sylvia Roberts for the screening process. Roberts pricked

Plaintiff’s finger to collect a sample of her blood capillaries, but Plaintiff fainted within moments. Roberts tried to hold Plaintiff upright from across the counter, but Plaintiff fell to the ground. Id. Plaintiff spent a week in the hospital with postconcussive symptoms and now complains of hearing loss and personality changes. Id. at *3–4. In March 2018, Plaintiff sued BioLife and its parent company under two theories of liability.2 First, she claims Defendants negligently failed to take her medical history before collecting the capillary sample. See id. at *4. If they would have collected her medical history, she argues, then they would have learned what she knew: that she has fainted when seeing blood. See ECF No. 37 at PageID.2527–28. Second, she claims Defendants negligently positioned her in a

relatively high swivel chair too far from Roberts to prevent the fall. See Good, 2020 WL 736005, at *4, *7. In August 2019, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. After carefully reviewing the record, this Court granted summary judgment for Defendants. The problem with Plaintiff’s negligent-history theory was a lack of evidence that Defendants failed to take her medical history. Id. at *6. Roberts testified that she took Plaintiff’s medical history during a vein

2 Plaintiff also sued for medical malpractice but later stipulated to dismiss it. See ECF Nos. 1 at PageID.11; 28. check3 and—though Plaintiff testified that she did not remember the vein check—Plaintiff later testified that she did remember not being asked about her history. This Court gave no weight to Plaintiff’s later affidavit because it contradicted her earlier deposition testimony that she could not remember the vein check. Id. Similarly, after reviewing the parties’ expert reports, this Court found that, based on the record, the statistical probability of

Plaintiff fainting from a capillary sample was “so unlikely that failing to anticipate it was [not] a breach of the standard of care” as a matter of law. Id. at *8. But the Sixth Circuit saw things differently. Regarding the negligent-history theory, the Sixth Circuit found no “direct contradiction,” leaving a triable question of fact instead. Good v. BioLife Plasma Servs., L.P., 834 F. App’x 188, 196 (6th Cir. 2020) (unpublished). With respect to negligent positioning, the Sixth Circuit concluded that, though “small,” the risk of fainting from a capillary-sample collection was “foreseeable” because “BioLife sees around 100,000 donors every year.” Id. at 196–97. Therefore, it held, a reasonable juror could find BioLife negligent for not providing Plaintiff with safer furniture. Id. at 198.

The Sixth Circuit also addressed causation because Defendants raised it as an alternative basis for affirming summary judgment. Id. Based on the expert reports and Roberts’s testimony with respect to the swiveling chair, the Sixth Circuit concluded that jurors could, and should, determine whether not having a better chair was the but-for and legal cause of Plaintiff’s injuries. Id. at 198–99. Then it reversed summary judgment for Defendants and remanded the case here for further proceedings. Id. at 200.

3 The “vein check” is when a BioLife employee would examine a potential donor’s veins to verify their suitability for donation. See Good v. Biolife Plasma Servs., L.P., No. 18-11260, 2020 WL 736005, at *2 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 13, 2020). Julida Reeves performed Plaintiff’s vein check and testified that she would regularly ask the donor about prior adverse reactions. Id. The parties have since filed several motions in limine. ECF No. 154. Relevant here is their since-denied motion to limit the expert testimony of Drs. O’Hara and Heidenreich. See id. Dr. O’Hara was Plaintiff’s treating neurosurgeon and diagnosed her with a basilar skull fracture. Dr. Heidenreich diagnosed Plaintiff with possible superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD). At issue now is Defendants’ motion for reconsideration of the denial of their motion, ECF

No. 157, and their motion for leave to reply to their motion for reconsideration. ECF No. 160. II. Motions for reconsideration of nonfinal orders are disfavored and may be granted in only three circumstances: (1) a mistake that changes the outcome of the prior decision, (2) an intervening change in controlling law that warrants a different outcome, or (3) new facts that could not have been previously discovered warrant a different outcome. E.D. Mich. LR 7.1(h)(2). A. Defendants have not introduced an intervening change in law or previously undiscoverable fact. See generally ECF No. 157.

Thus, the remaining question is whether Defendants have identified any mistakes. For purposes of reconsideration, mistakes and outcomes are mutually exclusive. Law and facts that were not in the record or the disputed order are not cognizable under Local Rule 7.1(h)(2)(A), because they were not “before” the court. True, “some critical [laws and facts] are neither placed ‘before’ the [court] nor passed through [its] formal internal procedures.” See Matthew N. Preston II, The Tweet Test: Attributing Presidential Intent to Agency Action, 10 BELMONT L. REV. 1, 12 n.61 (2022) (discussing the implications of the word “before” in the context of administrative records). However, it would be “unrealistic” to expect courts to know the entire universe of law at all times. Cf. id. at 12 & n.61 (noting that judicial review “is ordinarily limited to . . . the existing administrative record” (quoting Dep’t of Com. v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551, 2573 (2019))). The parties—not the court—must provide the laws and the facts for the relief they seek. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317

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Good v. BioLife Plasma Services, L.P., (E.D. Mich. 2022).

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