In re Pharmaceutical Industry Average Wholesale Price Litigation

277 F.R.D. 52, 2011 WL 3806173
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedAugust 30, 2011
DocketMDL No. 1456; Master Case No. 01-cv-12257-PBS
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 277 F.R.D. 52 (In re Pharmaceutical Industry Average Wholesale Price Litigation) 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
In re Pharmaceutical Industry Average Wholesale Price Litigation, 277 F.R.D. 52, 2011 WL 3806173 (D. Mass. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SARIS, District Judge.

This massive, decade-long, nationwide, multi-district class action against thirteen pharmaceutical companies (and related entities) involves the pricing of pharmaceutical drugs reimbursed by Medicare, private insurers, and patients making coinsurance payments based on average wholesale price (“AWP”) between 1991 and 2005. For the most part, the drugs at issue are administered by doctors for the treatment of cancer and other serious ailments. Some are branded single source drugs; others are multi-source drugs which are branded and generic. This is an old, sick, and dying class.

Class Counsel now seek final approval from the Court of the modified Track Two Settlement (Docket No. 5133) with the Track Two defendants.1 As part of that process, Class Counsel has moved to add several new consumer class representatives. (Docket No. 7572.)

After a review of the record, the Court ALLOWS the Motion to Add Individual Plaintiffs as Class Representatives for Subclass 1 of the Track Two Settlement.

[56]*56 DISCUSSION

The “Medicare Part B Co-Payment Class” (Subclass 1) proposed here is defined as:

All natural persons in the United States who, from January 1, 1991 through January 1, 2005, made, or incurred an obligation to make, any portion of a Medicare Part B co-payment for a Class Drug manufactured, marketed, sold or distributed by a Released Company.

(Proposed Settlement Agreement at 5.) The current class representatives for Class 1 are four nonprofit organizations: Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Wisconsin Citizen Action, New York Statewide Senior Action Council, and Citizen Action of New York.2 In addition, Muriel Tonacchio, as executor of her mother’s estate, was added as a Class 1 representative on July 21, 2008.3 (See also Docket No. 5409.)

Class counsel now seek to add three additional individual class representatives for Class 1: Agnes Swayze, Thomas Trusky and Mariella Laday. Class representatives must have Article III standing and they must satisfy the adequacy and typicality requirements of Rule 23.

A. Standing

Article III standing requirements “are expressed in a familiar three-part algorithm: a would-be plaintiff must demonstrate a concrete and particularized injury in fact, a causal connection that permits tracing the claimed injury to the defendant’s actions, and a likelihood that prevailing in the action will afford some redress for the injury.” Me. People’s Alliance & Natural Res. Def. Council v. Mallinckrodt, Inc., 471 F.3d 277, 283 (1st Cir.2006) (citing Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)). In order to show that they have standing in this case, subclass 1 consumers must show that they paid for a Track Two drug based on AWP. See In re Phann. Indus. Average Wholesale Price Litig., 230 F.R.D. 61, 81 (D.Mass.2005).

In addition, this Court has previously held, in the context of certification of a class for purposes of litigation, that there must be at least one “individual class representative with standing to sue each defendant” — or as class counsel have said, a one plaintiff-one defendant rule. In re Pharm. Indus. Average Wholesale Price Litig., 230 F.R.D. 61, 80 (D.Mass.2005).

The Court addresses the Article III standing of each newly proposed class representative individually. Among the claims pursued by Ms. Swayze, Ms. Laday, Mr. Trusky and Ms. Tonacchio, the one plaintiff-one defendant requirement is satisfied.

1. Agnes Swayze

The Court finds that Agnes Swayze received injections of the drugs Anzemet Dextrose, Dexamethosone Sodium Phosphate, Heparin sodium, and Neupogen as part of chemotherapy treatments in 2002 and 2003, and that she made out-of-pocket copayments for administrations of those drugs. See Swayze Aff. ¶ 5, May 30, 2011. Ms. Swayze has provided billing records from the Valley Tumor Medical Group and the Lancaster Community Hospital as evidence that she received injections of these medications in 2002 and 2003. Swayze Aff., Ex. 1. In addition, Ms. Swayze’s claim form for this Track Two settlement shows that she received injections of the drugs listed above, and lists her Medicare copay obligation for each administration. Id., Ex. 2. Finally, Ms. Swayze has provided a check register that shows payments made to Lancaster Community Hospital for a visit on April 28, 2000. Ms. Swayze’s Track Two claim form, populated by information received by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, indicates that she received an injection of sodium chloride on April 28, 2000. See Swayze Supp. Aff., Exs. 1-2, June 23, 2011.

[57]*57Ms. Swayze’s billing records from the Valley Tumor Group and Lancaster Community Hospital list a patient amount as zero, which might suggest that she did not make co-payments for Track Two drugs. Ms. Swayze said under oath that she made out-of-pocket payments. Because Ms. Swayze was a Medicare beneficiary during the relevant time period, we know that she was responsible for 20% of all drug costs, with Medicare covering 80%. Ms. Swayze has stated under oath that at no time did she carry supplemental insurance. See Swayze Aff. ¶ 8. The billing records support this statement: In the column for charges to a secondary insurance, there is no amount listed. Id., Ex. 1. Moreover, in a report from Ms. Swayze’s physician, Dr. Sha-masunder, he notes that the “patient does have only Medicare and one of our nurses talked to her about the cost of medication.” Hr’g Ex. 3, June 13, 2011. As such, Ms. Swayze’s statement that she made payments is likely true.

Class counsel originally stated that Ms. Swayze had been administered Epogen, an Amgen drug. However, records appear to show that she was in fact administered Pro-crit, which is the medical-equivalent of Epo-gen manufactured by Johnson and Johnson, which is not a Track Two defendant. Class counsel have acknowledged this error. Nonetheless, Ms. Swayze is still an appropriate Amgen class representative because there is evidence that she received injections of Neupogen, another Amgen drug.

Accordingly, the Court finds that Agnes Swayze has standing to be a Track Two consumer class 1 representative for the following defendants: Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Aventis, Baxter, and Watson.

2. Marietta Laday

The Court finds that Mariella Laday received injections of the drugs Ketorolac, Methotrexate Sodium, Sodium Chloride, Gammagard, Gamimune, Accuneb, Adenoisine, Aristospan, and Lyphocin from 2000 to 2004, and that she made out-of-pocket copayments for administrations of those drugs. See Laday Aff. ¶¶ 2, 4, May 24, 2011. Ms. Laday’s claim form for this Track Two settlement shows that she received injections of the drugs listed above, and lists her Medicare copay obligation for each administration. Id., Ex. 1. In addition, Ms. Laday provided more than 200 canceled checks that show payments made to various doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, and recovery centers during the relevant time period.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
277 F.R.D. 52, 2011 WL 3806173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-pharmaceutical-industry-average-wholesale-price-litigation-mad-2011.