Hood v. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc.

76 F. Supp. 3d 268, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJanuary 2, 2015
DocketMDL No. 13-02428-DPW; Civil Action No. 14-12384-DPW
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 76 F. Supp. 3d 268 (Hood v. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hood v. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc., 76 F. Supp. 3d 268, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26 (D. Mass. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

DOUGLAS P. WOODLOCK, District Judge.

The Attorney General of Mississippi on behalf of the State of Mississippi filed this action against Defendants Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. and Fresenius USA, Inc. (collectively “Fresenius”) in the Chancery Court of DeSoto County, Mississippi.

The case made its way to me in Boston following removal to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi and then through transfer by the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation under the rubric: In re Fresenius Granuflo/Naturalyte Dialysate Products Liability Litigation, (JPML No. 2428). The Attorney General seeks to have me return the matter to DeSoto County. I conclude that the presence of the State of Mississippi as a real party in interest in a case founded solely on diversity jurisdiction requires me to do so.

The Complaint contains a single count alleging that Fresenius engaged in unfair or deceptive trade practices in violation of the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act, Miss.Code Ann. §§ 75-24-1 et seq. (“MCPA”), by providing “false product information” and misrepresenting or concealing the risks associated with its Granu-Flo and NaturaLyte dialysis products. (Compl. ¶¶ 32^3.) According to the Complaint, Fresenius violated the MCPA “each time false or misleading product information was provided to a Mississippian, including the State, via a warning, instruction, training, advertisement or other product information.” (Id. ¶ 41.) Through the Complaint, the Attorney General seeks injunctive relief, “disgorgement of all money wrongfully acquired by [Fre-senius] from the sale of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte administered to Mississippi Medicaid recipients and members of the State Health Plan,” civil penalties of “up to $10,000 for each violation of the [MCPA],” punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees. (Id. ¶ 51.) According to the Complaint, the monies to be disgorged represent payments made by the State of Mississippi “through its Division of Medicaid and the State Health Plan.” (Id. ¶ 51(d).)

Fresenius removed the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441 and 1446, alleging diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1). The State immediately moved to remand the case to Mississippi state court — and for costs and fees — but on Fresenius’s motion, the Mississippi federal court issued a stay pending consideration of transfer of the case by the JPML to this Court as part of the Fresenius GranuFlo/NaturaLyte Dialysate Products Liability Litigation.

The case having been transferred to me by the JPML, I now consider the State’s Renewed Motion to Remand and For Costs and Fees.

I. THE LACK OF CITIZENSHIP FOR STATES UNDER FEDERAL DIVERSITY JURISDICTION

The only basis for removal asserted by Fresenius is diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1).1 There [271]*271can be no dispute that the exercise of diversity jurisdiction pursuant to § 1332(a) requires complete diversity between the parties to a lawsuit. “[T]hat is, diversity jurisdiction does not exist unless each defendant is a citizen of a different State from each plaintiff.” Owen Equip. & Erection Co. v. Kroger, 437 U.S. 365, 374, 98 S.Ct. 2396, 57 L.Ed.2d 274 (1978) (emphases in original). It is equally well established that “a State is not a ‘citizen’ for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.” Moor v. Alameda County, 411 U.S. 693, 717, 93 S.Ct. 1785, 36 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973).

The Supreme Court has made clear that “the ‘citizens’ upon whose diversity a plaintiff grounds jurisdiction must be real and substantial parties to the controversy.” Navarro Sav. Ass’n v. Lee, 446 U.S. 458, 461, 100 S.Ct. 1779, 64 L.Ed.2d 425 (1980). This rule applies with equal force where, as here, a State or state official is a named party to an action. See Mississippi ex rel. Hood v. AU Optronics, — U.S. -, 134 S.Ct. 736, 745, 187 L.Ed.2d 654 (2014) (citing Missouri, K & T. R. Co. v. Missouri Railroad and Warehouse Comm’rs, 183 U.S. 53, 58-59, 22 S.Ct. 18, 46 L.Ed. 78 (1901)). Accordingly, in determining whether jurisdiction is proper I must “disregard nominal or formal parties and rest only upon the citizenship of the real parties to the controversy.” Navarro, 446 U.S. at 461, 100 S.Ct. 1779.2

Fresenius concedes that the State of Mississippi is a real party in interest to this action, insofar as the Mississippi Attorney General is authorized to bring par-ens patriae actions to vindicate the State’s “quasi-sovereign interest in the health and well-being — both physical and economic— of its residents in general.” See Alfred L. Snapp & Son v. Puerto Rico, ex rel. Barez, 458 U.S. 592, 607, 102 S.Ct. 3260, 73 L.Ed.2d 995 (1982); Louisiana ex rel. Caldwell v. Allstate Ins. Co., 536 F.3d 418, 430 (5th Cir.2008) (holding State of Louisiana was real party in interest to claims for injunctive relief under Louisiana’s antitrust statute); Hood v. AstraZeneca Pharma., LP, 744 F.Supp.2d 590, 596 (N.D.Miss.2010) (concluding State of Mississippi was a real party in interest to claims under MCPA, state Medicaid laws, and causes of action in tort); Hood v. F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd., 639 F.Supp.2d 25, 32-33 (D.D.C.2009) (concluding State of Mississippi was real party in interest as to forfeiture and penalty claims under state antitrust act); Hood v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 2013 WL 3280267 at *5-7 (N.D.Miss. June 27, 2013) (concluding that State of Mississippi was a real party in interest to claims under MCPA).

Fresenius contends, however, that despite the State’s status as the only named plaintiff, the State of Mississippi is not the [272]*272only real plaintiff in interest to this action. Other real plaintiffs in interest, according to Fresenius, include the Mississippi State Division of Medicaid, on whose behalf the State seeks disgorgement, as well as individual, unnamed citizens of Mississippi whose injuries this suit aims to redress. See Louisiana ex rel. Caldwell 536 F.3d at 430-31 (concluding individual insurance policyholders who suffered injuries were real parties in interest to claim for treble damages under state antitrust statute); Hood v. F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd.,

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Bluebook (online)
76 F. Supp. 3d 268, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hood-v-fresenius-medical-care-holdings-inc-mad-2015.