Omni Healthcare, Inc. v. MD Spine Solutions LLC

CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJune 7, 2024
Docket1:18-cv-12558
StatusUnknown

This text of Omni Healthcare, Inc. v. MD Spine Solutions LLC (Omni Healthcare, Inc. v. MD Spine Solutions LLC) 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
Omni Healthcare, Inc. v. MD Spine Solutions LLC, (D. Mass. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., ex rel. OMNI HEALTHCARE, INC.

Plaintiffs,

v. No. 18-cv-12558-PBS

MD SPINE SOLUTIONS LLC D/B/A MD LABS INC., DENIS GRIZELJ, MATTHEW RUTLEDGE AND DOE HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS 1-100,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON RELATOR’S MOTION TO COMPEL

CABELL, U.S.M.J. I. INTRODUCTION In this longstanding qui tam litigation, plaintiff-relator Omni Healthcare, Inc. (“Omni”) is suing defendants MD Spine Solutions LLC d/b/a MD Labs Inc. (“MD Labs”), Denis Grizelj, and Matthew Rutledge, as well as numerous unidentified healthcare providers (collectively, “defendants”), on behalf of the United States, 29 individual states, and the District of Columbia. Omni alleges that the defendants violated the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729, and numerous state law analogues by misleading Omni into ordering expensive and medically unnecessary PCR1 urine tract

1 PCR stands for “polymerase chain reaction,” which is a form of DNA testing. (D. 184, Second Amended Complaint, ¶ 11). infection (UTI) testing for its patients. The defendants assert that they did not mislead Omni or file any false claims and that their PCR testing is clinically useful.

Currently, Omni seeks an order compelling the defendants to produce certain documents that the defendants are withholding based on asserted attorney-client privilege.2 As detailed below, the defendants previously produced these documents to the United States but later clawed them back after learning that the United States had shared them with Omni. Omni contends that the defendants have waived any privilege, while the defendants argue that they have preserved the privilege. For the following reasons, the court finds that the defendants have waived the privilege. II. RELEVANT BACKGROUND The court primarily draws the following facts from the parties’ submissions in connection with the motion to compel, with other citations to the docket as appropriate. See, e.g., Dimaria v. Concorde Ent., Inc., Civil Action No. 12–11139–FDS, 2013 WL

4056213, at *1 n.1 (D. Mass. Aug. 9, 2013). Unless otherwise noted, the facts are not in dispute. Omni initiated this action by filing a complaint on December 12, 2018. (D. 1, Complaint). That complaint alleged that MD Labs

2 The defendants assert that some of the documents are protected by both attorney-client privilege and work product protection. Because none of the following analysis depends on whether one or both of these protections apply, the court will refer to “privilege” throughout for the sake of simplicity. violated the False Claims Act through its billing practices for multiple varieties of urine testing. (Id.). The case remained under seal for nearly three years thereafter while the United

States investigated. (D. 4, Motion to Seal; D. 47, Order on Intervention). The United States eventually disclosed the existence of the investigation to the defendants while the matter remained sealed. (D. 31, Application for Partial Lifting of Seal; D. 33, Order Granting Partial Lifting of Seal). During the investigation, the United States proposed a plan to address the issue of attorney-client privilege in connection with the defendants’ production of documents. The parties disagree on the nature of the proposal. Omni asserts that that United States proposed entering an order under Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d)3, which would have protected the defendants from any potential waiver. (D. 229, Omni’s Memorandum in Support, p. 5).

The defendants assert that the United States did not propose a Rule 502(d) order, but rather offered to use a “filter team” to screen out the defendants’ privileged documents if the defendants agreed that this review process would not “taint” the filter team. (D. 229-3, December 2023 Email Thread). Regardless, it is undisputed that the defendants rejected the proposal. Instead,

3 Rule 502(d) provides that “[a] federal court may order that the privilege or protection is not waived by disclosure connected with the litigation pending before the court – in which event the disclosure is also not a waiver in any other federal or state proceeding.” Fed. R. Evid. 502(d). the defendants conducted their own internal privilege review before producing documents to the United States. The defendants also included a cover letter with each production stating that the

defendants did not intend to waive any privilege and reserved the right to claw back any inadvertently disclosed privileged materials. (D. 234-1, Cover Letter Dated December 30, 2020). On April 6, 2021, the United States informed the defendants that it had identified 12 potentially privileged documents while reviewing the defendants’ December 30, 2020, production. More specifically, an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”) first emailed counsel for the defendants at 12:54 pm to inform the latter that the former came across four potentially privileged documents while reviewing the production, identifying each document by Bates number. (D. 234-6, April 6, 2021, Email Thread). Then, fifteen minutes later, the AUSA emailed defense counsel again, identifying five more potentially privileged documents. (Id.). Finally, the

AUSA sent a third email approximately forty minutes later identifying three more documents. (Id.). Thereafter, the AUSA and defense counsel spoke by telephone, during which defense counsel requested an opportunity to review the identified documents for privilege and claw them back if appropriate. (D. 229-3). The defendants conducted the review and clawed back the twelve documents that the AUSA had identified as potentially privileged. However, at that time, the defendants did not review the rest of the December 30, 2020, production or any other production to see if they had inadvertently produced any other privileged documents.

Of note, the United States and the defendants had, during this time period, been engaged in settlement discussions for months. Ultimately, they reached a settlement by October 20, 2021. (D. 45, Notice of Intervention in Part and Declination in Part). As part of the settlement, the parties stipulated to the dismissal of all claims except for Omni’s claims against the defendants based on allegedly unnecessary PCR UTI testing. (D. 52, Stipulation of Dismissal). The United States declined to intervene as to those claims. (D. 45). Although Omni as the relator is the party principally prosecuting the remaining claims, see 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(3), the United States remains a real party in interest. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(1) (“A person may bring a civil action for

a violation of [the False Claims Act] for the person and for the United States Government. The action shall be brought in the name of the Government.”); 31 U.S.C. § 3730(d)(2) (establishing that, when the United States declines to intervene, the relator takes 25 to 30 percent of any settlement or recovery plus fees and costs, with the remainder going to the United States). After the settlement, Omni continued pursuing its remaining claims against the defendants. In or around late September 2022, the defendants changed counsel. (D. 124, Notice of Appearance; D. 131, Order Allowing Motions to Withdraw). On or about October 31, 2022, unbeknownst

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Omni Healthcare, Inc. v. MD Spine Solutions LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/omni-healthcare-inc-v-md-spine-solutions-llc-mad-2024.