Padmanabhan v. Hulka

308 F. Supp. 3d 484
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedApril 3, 2018
DocketCivil Action No. 17–11939–NMG
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 308 F. Supp. 3d 484 (Padmanabhan v. Hulka) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Padmanabhan v. Hulka, 308 F. Supp. 3d 484 (D.D.C. 2018).

Opinion

GORTON, J.

This case arises from the termination of the employment of Dr. Bharanidharan Padmanabhan ("plaintiff" or "Padmanabhan" or "Dr. Bharani") and his subsequent sanctioning by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine ("BORIM" or "the Board"). It is not the first lawsuit brought by the doctor in connection with these events. In this case, plaintiff brings a plethora of claims against multiple defendants. Specifically, plaintiff alleges that defendants 1) violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), 2) conspired to violate RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), 3) violated the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 - 7, 4 ) committed fraud, 5) tortiously interfered with contract, 6) committed trespass to chattels and 7) violated his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In addition, plaintiff seeks declaratory judgments and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief.

Before the Court are five motions to dismiss filed by various combinations of defendants and plaintiff's motion for entry of default. For the reasons that follow, defendants' motions to dismiss will be allowed and plaintiff's motion will be denied.

I. Background

Plaintiff Bharanidharan Padmanabhan, MD, PhD, resides in Massachusetts and practiced medicine as a neurologist at the Cambridge Health Aliance ("CHA") Whidden Hospital. In November, 2010, plaintiff's medical privileges were suspended. The Board revoked them following a January 2011 Fair Hearing at CHA. Plaintiff has unsuccessfully challenged that revocation in state and federal court.

In October, 2014, Dr. Padmanabhan filed a complaint in Massachusetts Superior Court for Norfolk County. See Padmanabhan v. City of Cambridge et al., Norfolk CA. NO. 1482CV01410 ("Padmanabhan I" ). That complaint asserted 12 counts against 73 defendants. The claims included various torts, fraud, violations of Massachusetts state law and violations of plaintiff's Constitutional rights. Padmanabhan accused BORIM of conspiring with CHA and asserted that BORIM's conduct constituted "corrupt collusion and racketeering". In July, 2017, the Superior Court allowed defendants' motions to dismiss, holding that plaintiff's claims were time-barred. Plaintiff appealed that decision, which is currently pending in the Massachusetts Court of Appeals.

In September, 2015, Padmanabhan filed a complaint in this Court against a handful of state officials, alleging that they violated federal law by improperly accessing the Prescription Monitoring Program computer database in order to obtain information about his patients and to accuse him falsely *489of Medicaid fraud. This session allowed defendants' motion to dismiss, holding that plaintiff failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Padmanabhan v. Healey, 159 F.Supp.3d 220, 226 (D. Mass. 2016), aff'd, No. 16-1159, 2017 WL 3404402 (1st Cir. Jan. 4, 2017), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 77, 199 L.Ed.2d 24 (2017) (" Padmanabhan II").

Plaintiff has also pursued litigation arising from BORIM disciplinary proceedings, which began in 2014. An evidentiary hearing took place before a Division of Administrative Law Appeals ("DALA") magistrate in early 2015, and the magistrate issued a recommended decision in August, 2015. In January, 2016, BORIM remanded the case to the magistrate with orders to clarify and explain parts of his decision.

In March, 2016, plaintiff filed a petition for certiorari in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC") asserting that the BORIM proceedings violated his constitutional rights and requesting that the August, 2015, decision be deemed final pursuant to 801 C.M.R. § 1.01(1l)(c)(3). After that petition was denied by a single justice of the SJC, plaintiff appealed to the full SJC. While that appeal was pending, the DALA magistrate issued an amended recommended decision in August, 2016. That decision found that plaintiff had acted below the standard of care.

On May 11, 2017, BORIM issued a decision that adopted, in large part, the magistrate's findings. On May 15, 2017, plaintiff filed an emergency motion in the SJC to stay the suspension of his license. The SJC denied that stay on May 18, 2017, and issued an opinion on the matter on June 27, 2017. See Padmanabhan v. Bd. of Registration in Med., 477 Mass. 1026, 77 N.E.3d 312 (2017) (" Padmanabhan III"). The court noted that it did not "condone the lengthy disciplinary process to which Padmanabhan has been subjected" and that it had "serious concerns" about the "repeated resettings of the 180-day clock pursuant to 801 C.M.R. § 1.01(11)(c)(2)." Id. at 314. Nonetheless, the Court noted, plaintiff's finality argument was unavailing. The Court concluded that plaintiff

now has the opportunity to pursue judicial review of the final decision [of BORIM] pursuant to M.G.L. c. 112, § 64.

Id. at 315. Plaintiff did not avail himself of that opportunity.

Plaintiff filed a complaint in this session on May 22, 2017, requesting injunctive relief against BORIM. Padmanabhan alleged that ten members or employees of BORIM violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983

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308 F. Supp. 3d 484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/padmanabhan-v-hulka-dcd-2018.