Moore Eye Care, P.C. v. Chartcare Solutions Inc.

364 F. Supp. 3d 426
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 7, 2019
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 15-cv-05290
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 364 F. Supp. 3d 426 (Moore Eye Care, P.C. v. Chartcare Solutions Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore Eye Care, P.C. v. Chartcare Solutions Inc., 364 F. Supp. 3d 426 (E.D. Pa. 2019).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

Rufe, District Judge *428Plaintiffs Moore Eye Care, P.C. and Eye Services, MSO d/b/a Moore Eye Institute (collectively "Moore Eye") provide medical and surgical ophthalmology services.1 Moore Eye filed suit against its former billing services providers for alleged breaches of a medical billing contract.2 On September 14, 2018, this case was reassigned to this Court from the docket of the retired Judge Lawrence F. Stengel. Moore Eye, Defendant/Cross-Claim Plaintiff Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. ("MTBC"), and Cross-Claim Defendant ChartCare Solutions, Inc., have each filed motions for summary judgment: MTBC and Moore Eye have filed cross motions for summary judgment on MTBC's breach of contract counterclaims; Moore Eye has moved for summary judgment on MTBC's counterclaims for unjust enrichment and quantum meruit; MTBC has moved for summary judgment on Moore Eye's breach of contract claim; and ChartCare has moved for summary judgment on MTBC's cross-claims. For the reasons that follow, MTBC's motion will be denied, and the motions filed by Moore Eye and ChartCare will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

While Moore Eye refers to this case as a "straightforward contractual dispute" for which summary judgment is appropriate,3 the parties' "uncontested" statements of facts reveal significant disputes over the parties' conduct and events on which the motions rely. These disputes are noted in the discussion where relevant.

In December 2012, Moore Eye entered into a billing agreement with i-Plexus Solutions, Inc., under which i-Plexus would provide medical billing services to Moore Eye, and Moore Eye would pay i-Plexus a percentage of its monthly collections.4 After a merger with i-Plexus, ChartCare, a subsidiary of QHR,5 became responsible for i-Plexus's obligations to Moore Eye under the existing billing services agreement. Moore Eye alleges that both i-Plexus and ChartCare failed to perform their contractual responsibilities, causing Moore Eye to lose the ability to collect on many of its medical claims, and in 2014, Moore Eye began withholding the monthly fees that were due under the services agreement.6 MTBC and ChartCare dispute Moore Eye's assertion that the account was mishandled, and ChartCare asserts that many of the issues that have been *429raised by Moore Eye were outside the scope of ChartCare's responsibility.7

On January 26, 2015, a meeting was held between Moore Eye representatives and Michael Halligan, the Vice President of QHR (ChartCare's parent company). Moore Eye alleges that its representatives presented Halligan with evidence of ChartCare's failure to perform its contractual duties.8 Moore Eye asserts that in this meeting, Halligan described the handling of the Moore Eye account as "fraud," and that he agreed to waive the entirety of the outstanding balances otherwise due to ChartCare through the end of 2014.9 Moore Eye agreed in the meeting that it would pay its invoices within 24 hours of receiving them starting in January 2015. MTBC and ChartCare largely dispute Moore Eye's characterization of the meeting, including the allegation that the pre-2015 invoices were waived.10 After this meeting, however, Moore Eye continued to withhold payment, asserting that ChartCare "continued to fail to perform its duties."11

ChartCare and MTBC entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement ("APA") dated July 10, 2015, by which MTBC assumed all responsibilities for the billing contract.12 MTBC issued an invoice to Moore Eye seeking payment on the outstanding balance, much of which Moore Eye asserted ChartCare had waived.13 Moore Eye asserts that MTBC, like ChartCare, "failed to engage in reconciliation of billings, follow-up on unpaid payer balances, resolution of payer denials or partial pays, and executive and management reporting regarding charges."14 MTBC disputes these allegations, and contends that Moore Eye denied MTBC employees access to Moore Eye's server that contained all of its relevant patient information, which effectively prevented MTBC from being able to fully provide billing services.15

On August 11, 2015, the President of MTBC sent Dr. Ginsburg, the founder of Moore Eye, an email stating that MTBC "cannot continue to allocate resources to [Moore Eye's] account after [August 14, 2015] unless/until we receive a good faith payment of the most recent two months' balance by the end of the week (i.e., Friday, 8/14)."16 Moore Eye did not issue a payment to MTBC, and MTBC stopped *430providing services. Moore Eye construes MTBC's email and subsequent actions as a "unilateral termination of services without proper notice,"17 and MTBC construes its actions as a temporary suspension of the contract.18

On August 14, 2015, Moore Eye filed its complaint in the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, alleging claims for breach of contract and fraud against Defendants, which include ChartCare, QHR, and MTBC. On September 23, 2015, the matter was removed to this Court. All Defendants, except MTBC, have settled with Plaintiff.

On October 29, 2015, MTBC filed an answer, and asserted two cross-claims against ChartCare for indemnification, and counterclaims against Moore Eye for breach of contract, quantum meruit, and unjust enrichment.19 MTBC's breach of contract counterclaims seek damages for: (1) the amounts due to ChartCare for its services "during the period through June 30, 2015,"20 which were assigned to MTBC under the APA; (2) the amounts due to MTBC for services rendered from July21 through August 13, 2015; and (3) Moore Eye's allegedly improper termination of the contract without notice.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A court will award summary judgment on a claim or part of a claim where there is "no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law."22 A fact is "material" if resolving the dispute over the fact "might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing [substantive] law."23 A dispute is "genuine" if "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party."24

In evaluating a summary judgment motion, a court "must view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party," and make every reasonable inference in that party's favor.25 Further, a court may not weigh the evidence or make credibility determinations.26 Nevertheless, the party opposing summary judgment must support each essential element of the opposition with concrete evidence in the record.27 "If the evidence is merely colorable, or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be granted."28

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Bluebook (online)
364 F. Supp. 3d 426, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-eye-care-pc-v-chartcare-solutions-inc-paed-2019.