Landay v. Rite Aid

40 A.3d 1280, 2012 Pa. Super. 73, 2012 WL 982790, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 110
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 23, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 40 A.3d 1280 (Landay v. Rite Aid) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Landay v. Rite Aid, 40 A.3d 1280, 2012 Pa. Super. 73, 2012 WL 982790, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 110 (Pa. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION BY SHOGAN, J.:

David M. Landay and the law firm of Patberg Carmody & Ging (collectively “Appellants”) appeal from the order entered on May 5, 2011 in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas that granted the preliminary objections filed by the appellee, Rite Aid, and dismissed Appellants’ complaint. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

On March 24, 2010, Appellants filed a class action complaint against Rite Aid. Complaint, 3/24/10. In the complaint, Appellants claim that Rite Aid violated Pennsylvania law and breached its contracts with Appellants by charging a flat fee of $50.00 for reproducing pharmacy records. Id. More specifically, Appellants allege that, under Pennsylvania law, Rite Aid is only permitted to charge requestors of pharmacy records “for the estimated actual and reasonable expenses it incurs in connection with the reproduction of requested pharmacy records” and that “charging each requestor a flat fee of $50.00 has no relationship to [Rite Aid’s] actual costs of searching for, retrieving, reproducing and transmitting Pennsylvania pharmacy records.” Id. at ¶¶ 15, 16. Rite Aid filed preliminary objections on the grounds that there was no breach of contract with Appellants and that there was no violation of the Pennsylvania Medical Records Act (“MRA”), 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6151-6160. Preliminary Objections, 5/11/10. Rite Aid asserted that the MRA does not apply to pharmacy records. Id.

[1282]*1282In an order filed May 5, 2011, the trial court granted Rite Aid’s preliminary objections and dismissed Appellants’ complaint. Interpreting the terms of the MRA restrictively, the trial court concluded that the MRA did not apply to pharmacies because a customer of a pharmacy was not a “patient.” Trial Court Opinion, 5/5/11, at 6.1 Additionally, the trial court found that Appellants’ complaint did not set forth facts supporting a breach of contract action. Id. at 8. Appellants timely appealed. On appeal, Appellants raise two issues:

1. Whether the Medical Records Act, 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6151-61[60], applies to Pennsylvania pharmacies, thereby restricting the amounts they may charge their patients and patient designees, including attorneys, for copies of requested pharmacy records?
2. Whether the relevant provisions of the Medical Records Act, 42 Pa. C.S.A. §§ 6151 — 61[60], are incorporated as terms into the records copying contracts between [Appellants] and Rite Aid?

Appellants’ Brief at 4.

The standard of review we apply when reviewing a trial court’s order granting preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer is well settled.

[0]ur standard of review of an order of the trial court overruling or granting preliminary objections is to determine whether the trial court committed an error of law. When considering the appropriateness of a ruling on preliminary objections, the appellate court must apply the same standard as the trial court.
Preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer test the legal sufficiency of the complaint. When considering preliminary objections, all material facts set forth in the challenged pleadings are admitted as true, as well as all inferences reasonably deducible therefrom. Preliminary objections which seek the dismissal of a cause of action should be sustained only in cases in which it is clear and free from doubt that the pleader will be unable to prove facts legally sufficient to establish the right to relief. If any doubt exists as to whether a demurrer should be sustained, it should be resolved in favor of overruling the preliminary objections.

Wayne M. Chiurazzi Law Inc. v. MRO Corporation, 27 A.3d 1272, 1277 (Pa.Super.2011) (citations and quotation marks omitted).

Additionally, because we must determine whether an individual who obtains pharmacy records from a pharmacy is a “patient,” as well as whether the pharmacy records are “medical charts and records” and whether the pharmacy is a “health care provider” or “health care facility” under the MRA, we are deciding questions of law. It is well settled that this Court’s standard of review for questions of law is de novo, and our scope of review is plenary. Cash America Net of Nevada, LLC v. Com., Dept. of Banking, 607 Pa. 432, 443, 8 A.3d 282, 289 (2010).

The MRA provides that:

(1) A patient or his designee, including his attorney, shall have the right of access to his medical charts and records and to obtain photocopies of the same, without the use of a subpoena duces tecum, for his own use. A health care provider or facility shall not charge a patient or his designee, including his attorney, a fee in excess of the amounts [1283]*1283set forth in section 6152(a)(2)(i) (relating to subpoena of records).

42 Pa.C.S.A. § 6155(b)(1).

As the trial court noted:

If § 6155(b) applies to pharmacies, the fees charged by the pharmacies, as alleged in the complaints, exceed the amounts set forth in § 6152(a)(2)(i).
The provisions of § 6155(b)(1) setting the maximum fees that may be charged applies to “patients” requesting their “medical charts and records” from a “health care provider or facility.” The MRA does not define the terms “patient,” “medical charts and records,” or “health care provider or facility.”
In [Appellants’] Brief in Opposition to the preliminary Objections of [Rite Aid], [Appellants] state that this absence of definition triggers the application of § 1903 of the Statutory Construction Act which provides that where terms are not otherwise defined in a statute, “[w]ords and phrases shall be construed according to rules of grammar and according to their common and approved usage; ...” 1 Pa.C.S. § 1903(a). [Appellants] also refer to 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1921 which provides that a court may not consider other statutes upon the same or similar subjects unless the words of a statute are not explicit. [Appellants] state that “[Rite Aid] ignore[s] these precepts of statutory interpretation and attempt[s] to find an exception from the MRA for pharmacies through reference to other Pennsylvania statutes, yet they fail to demonstrate any ambiguity in the terms at issue.” [Appellants’] Brief at 6.

Trial Court Opinion, 5/5/11, at 3. The trial court continued:

Both [Appellants] and [Rite Aid] discuss other legislation and regulations. [Appellants] correctly state that legislation and regulations governing the practice of pharmacy require a pharmacist, before filling a prescription, to exercise professional judgment by, inter alia, considering potential adverse reactions, and whether the prescription may have an incorrect duration or dosage. [Appellants] refer to laws, such as HIPPA [sic] and the Pennsylvania Quality Health Care and Accountability and Protection Act, 40 P.S. § 991.2102, that include pharmacists in the description of health care providers that come within the scope of the law.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 A.3d 1280, 2012 Pa. Super. 73, 2012 WL 982790, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/landay-v-rite-aid-pasuperct-2012.