Hernandez v. Ciba-Geigy Corp. USA

200 F.R.D. 285, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8979, 2001 WL 535314
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedMay 17, 2001
DocketNo. CIV.A. B-00-82
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 200 F.R.D. 285 (Hernandez v. Ciba-Geigy Corp. USA) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hernandez v. Ciba-Geigy Corp. USA, 200 F.R.D. 285, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8979, 2001 WL 535314 (S.D. Tex. 2001).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

TAGLE, District Judge.

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on May 17, 2001, the Court considered the various pending motions and docket filings in this action:

1) Defendant Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s (“Novartis”) Motion for Bifurcation of Discovery [Dkt. No. 32] and Memorandum in support thereof [Dkt. No. 33];
[288]*2882) Plaintiffs’ Response to Defendant Novartis’ Motion for Bifurcation of Discovery [Dkt. No. 44];
3) Novartis’ Second Motion to Dismiss [Dkt. No. 53] and Memorandum in support thereof [Dkt. No. 54];
4) Defendant American Psychiatric Association’s (“APA”) Motion and Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint Pursuant to Rule 9(b) (Corrected) [Dkt. No. 56];
5) APA’s Unopposed Motion for Leave to File Motion and Memorandum to Dismiss Amended Complaint Pursuant to Rule 9(b)(Corrected) [Dkt. No. 58];
6) APA’s Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) [Dkt. No. 59] and Memorandum in support thereof [Dkt. No. 60];
7) Defendant Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder’s (“CHADD”) Unopposed Motion for Leave to File Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint [Dkt. No. 62];
8) CHADD’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint [Dkt. No. 63] and Memorandum in Support thereof [Dkt. No. 64];
9) Plaintiffs’ Unopposed Motion to Extend Time to Respond to Motion to Dismiss [Dkt. No. 61];
10) Plaintiffs’ Response to Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss and attached Second Amended Complaint [Dkt. No. 65];
11) CHADD’s Reply Brief [Dkt. No. 66];
12) APA’s Reply Brief [Dkt. No. 67];
13) Novartis’ Reply Brief [Dkt. No. 68];
14) Defendants’ Unopposed Motion for Leave to File Supplemental Authority [Dkt. No. 69]; and
15) Defendants’ Second Unopposed Motion for Leave to File Supplemental Authority [Dkt. No. 70],

For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS the Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss [Dkt. Nos. 53, 56, 59 and 63].

I. Introduction

A. Procedural History

On October 17, 2000, the Court ordered the Plaintiffs to re-plead their causes of action for common law fraud, violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (“NJCFA”), conspiracy to commit common law fraud, and conspiracy to violate the NJCFA to conform with the particularity requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) [Dkt. No. 45].1 In an effort to comply with the Court’s Order, the Plaintiffs filed their First Amended Complaint [Dkt. No. 49]. Thereafter, the Defendants filed Motions to Dismiss under both Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 9(b) and 12(b)(6) [Dkt. Nos. 53, 56, 59 and 63]. The Plaintiffs then filed a response with a Second Amended Complaint attached [Dkt. No. 65], Defendants Novartis and CHADD addressed the deficiencies of the Second Amended Complaint in reply briefs [Dkt. Nos. 66 & 68]; however, the APA did not, arguing that the Second Amended Complaint is not properly before the Court because the Plaintiffs did not move for leave to amend [Dkt. No. 67],

B. The Court considers Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint as their live pleading

It is true that the Plaintiffs did not move for leave to amend its First Amended Complaint, but merely asked “[i]n the event that the Court finds the plaintiffs’ allegations to be insufficiently pleaded with particularity or fail to state a cause of action,” that the Court consider the attached Second Amended Complaint [Dkt. No. 65]. They also assured the Court that “[n]o further requests for leave to amend will be made.... ” [Id.]

As an initial matter, then, the Court had to decide if it would consider the Second Amended Complaint of the Plaintiffs despite the fact that it was improperly filed. First, the Plaintiffs assured the Court that this would be their final pleading. In addition, Defendants CHADD and Novartis addressed the merits of the Plaintiffs’ Second Amended [289]*289Complaint in their reply briefs. Finally, since leave to amend is “freely given when justice so requires” [Fed.R.Civ.P. 15], as a matter of judicial economy the Court considered the Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint as their live pleading. Furthermore, although Defendant APA has not addressed the merits of the Second Amended Complaint, its arguments regarding the Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint are nevertheless applicable.

C. Brief Summary of the Court’s Rulings

During the October 16, 2000 hearing, the Court pointed out the marked difference between a fraud theory based on the nonexistence of Attention Deficit Disorder (“ADD”) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (“ADHD”), and a fraud theory based on overgeneralized criteria for diagnosing ADD/ ADHD. In response, the Plaintiffs admitted that some children can be appropriately treated with Ritalin [October 16, 2000 transcript, p. 38, In. 16 — p. 39, In. 2], Therefore, it is uncontested by the Parties that a subset of children does exist who can be effectively treated with Ritalin.

Through its Order dated October 17, 2000 [Dkt. No. 45], the Plaintiffs were given the opportunity to amend their complaint to explain their fraud theory. The Court also gave a directive to specify whether the Plaintiffs “allege that their children were prescribed Ritalin when they had no medical need for the drug, or whether there was a legitimate medical need for the prescription, but they were not warned of the side effects or the limited efficacy of the drug.”

It is clear from the Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint that they contend that their children had no medical need for Ritalin. Although they recognized that a subset of children does exist who can be treated with Ritalin, they argue that their children are improperly characterized as having ADD/ ADHD as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (“DSM”), a widely disseminated compendium of psychiatric diagnoses. They claim that the criteria for ADD/ADHD in the DSM and its subsequent editions are too broad in scope and leads to an incorrect diagnosis of ADD/ ADHD and subsequent inappropriate Ritalin prescription. Therefore some children, including their own, are inaccurately categorized as having ADD/ADHD vis a vis the overbroad DSM criteria. In short, the Plaintiffs clam that their children have been improperly swept into a group who are said to have ADD/ADHD because the DSM’s criteria for diagnosing it are inappropriately over-broad.

Despite this clarification, however, the Plaintiffs have failed to re-plead the misstatement or omission element of common law fraud with particularity against Defendant Novartis as required by

Related

In re Key Energy Services, Inc. Securities Litigation
166 F. Supp. 3d 822 (S.D. Texas, 2016)
Casares v. Agri-Placements International, Inc.
12 F. Supp. 3d 956 (S.D. Texas, 2014)
Kiper v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP
884 F. Supp. 2d 561 (S.D. Texas, 2012)
Omni USA, Inc. v. PARKER-HANNIFIN CORP.
798 F. Supp. 2d 831 (S.D. Texas, 2011)
SHS Investment v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance
798 F. Supp. 2d 811 (S.D. Texas, 2011)
Luna v. Nationwide Property & Casualty Insurance
798 F. Supp. 2d 821 (S.D. Texas, 2011)
In Re Enron Corp. Securities, Derivative & Erisa Lit.
762 F. Supp. 2d 942 (S.D. Texas, 2010)
In Re Enron Corp. Securities
623 F. Supp. 2d 798 (S.D. Texas, 2009)
Newby v. Enron Corp.
540 F. Supp. 2d 759 (S.D. Texas, 2007)
In Re Enron Corporation Securities, Derivative
540 F. Supp. 2d 759 (S.D. Texas, 2007)
In Re Odyssey Healthcare, Inc. Securities Litigation
424 F. Supp. 2d 880 (N.D. Texas, 2005)
Jag Media Holdings Inc. v. A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc.
387 F. Supp. 2d 691 (S.D. Texas, 2004)
In Re Rezulin Products Liability Litigation
331 F. Supp. 2d 196 (S.D. New York, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
200 F.R.D. 285, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8979, 2001 WL 535314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hernandez-v-ciba-geigy-corp-usa-txsd-2001.