Physician's Healthsource, Inc. v. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

247 F. Supp. 3d 138, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67941
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedMarch 28, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 15-11517-JCB
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 247 F. Supp. 3d 138 (Physician's Healthsource, Inc. v. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.) 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
Physician's Healthsource, Inc. v. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., 247 F. Supp. 3d 138, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67941 (D. Mass. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [Docket Nos. 72, 75, 79, 109, 111]

JENNIFER C. BOAL, United States Magistrate Judge

In this putative class action, plaintiff Physician’s Healthsource, Inc. (“PHI”) alleges violations of the Telephone Consumer Act of 1991, as amended by the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005, 47 U.S.C. § 8227 (the “TCPA”). Specifically, PHI alleges that three faxes it received from the defendants constitute “unsolicited advertisements” in violation of the TCPA and seeks to represent a nationwide class of all persons who allegedly received similar faxes. All parties have filed motions for summary judgment. Docket Nos. 72, 75, 79.1 For the following reasons, this Court denies the motions,

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On April 6,2015, PHI filed this action on behalf of itself and others similarly situated. Docket No. 1. PHI also filed a motion for class certification, which the Court denied without prejudice on December 7, 2015. Docket Nos. 2, 58.

On July 29, 2016, PHI and defendants Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (“Vertex”) and Tactical Advantage Group, LLC (“TAG”) filed cross-motions for summary judgment. Docket Nos. 72, 75, 79. The parties filed oppositions to each other’s motions for summary judgment on August 26, 2016. Docket Nos. 91, 93, 96, 97. The parties filed replies on September 9, 2016. Docket Nos. 103, 105, 106, 107. The Court heard oral argument on March 7, 2017.

[142]*142II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND ■

A. Scope Of The Record

In order to determine precisely which materials are properly before the Court for purposes of deciding the cross-motions for summary judgment, the Court must first decide Vertex’s motions to strike certain portions of the summary judgment record. First, Vertex moves to strike the affidavit of Alicia Scutari Salerno (the “Salerno Affidavit”), which was submitted, by TAG in support of its motion for summaiy judgment. Docket No. 109. Vertex argues that the Salerno Affidavit must be stricken from the record because it contradicts the testimony of Stephen Taglienti, TAG’S Rule 30(b)(6) designee. Id.

• “When an interested witness has given clear answers to unambiguous questions, he cannot create a conflict and resist summary judgment with an affidavit that is clearly contradictory, but does not give a satisfactory explanation of why the testimony is changed.” Colantuoni v. Alfred Calcagni & Sons, Inc., 44 F.3d 1, 4-5 (1st Cir. 1994) (citations omitted). “The purpose of this sham affidavit rule is to protect the procedural integrity of summary judgment.” Mahan v. Boston Water & Sewer Comm’n, 179 F.R.D. 49, 53 (D. Mass. 1998). “If a party simply could offer a contradictory, post-deposition affidavit to defeat summary judgment without providing a ‘satisfactory explanation’ for the contradiction, the purpose- of summary judgment would be defeated.” Id. (citing Perma Research & Dev. Co. v. Singer Co., 410 F.2d 572, 578 (2nd Cir. 1969)).

However, “[a] subsequent affidavit that merely explains, or amplifies upon, opaque testimony given in a previous deposition is entitled to consideration in opposition to a motion for summary judgment.” Gillen v. Fallon Ambulance Serv., Inc., 283 F.3d 11, 26 (1st Cir. 2002). The Court has reviewed the subject documents and finds that the Salerno Affidavit expands upon, and does not contradict, the Rule 30(b)(6) deposition testimony of Taglienti. Accordingly, the Court denies Vertex’s motion to strike the Salerno Affidavit.

Vertex also moves to strike certain documents on the grounds that PHI’s production of those documents was untimely. Docket No. 111. PHI produced such documents well after the discovery deadline and, in some cases, after the deadline for filing dispositive motions. There are three categories of documents at- issue: (1) PHI’s June 2011 fax journals; (2) Cincinnati Bell phone bills; and (3) documents concerning PHI’s fax machine. With respect to the June 2011 fax journals, PHI has explained that it had mistakenly produced June 2010 journals and it was not until a deposition on June 14, 2016 that it realized its mistake. See Docket Ño.'90 at 6. Vertex has not provided any evidence that PHI’s late production of June 2011 fax journals was anything other than a mistake.

With respect to the phone bills, PHI .maintains that such documents were not responsive to any of Vertex’s discovery requests and that Vertex did not request such documents until June 2016. See Docket No. 90 at 2-5. However, PHI’s reading of Vertex’s discovery requests is much too narrow. Vertex’s Request No. 7 sought “[a]ll documents concerning any fax receiver that PHI alleges received Exhibit A, including but not limited to ... monthly invoices.” Docket No. 83 at 7-8. The phone bills are plainly responsive and PHI should have searched for and produced such documents in a timely manner. Similarly, PHI states that it did not come across the additional documents regarding its fax machine until it searched for the phone bills. Docket No. 90 .at 8. Again, PHI should have searched for, and produced such doc[143]*143uments, when it received Vertex’s discovery requests. While the Court does not condone PHI’s behavior, these documents have now been provided and Vertex has not shown sufficient prejudice to preclude consideration of the documents. Accordingly, the Court declines to strike these documents from the summary judgment record.2

B. Facts3

Vertex is a publicly traded specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, and markets small-molecule drugs for treatment of diseases.4 TAG is a “medical communications, meeting management and logistics company.”5 PHI is a healthcare provider specializing in chiropractic and pain management services located in Cincinnati.6

Among the products developed, manufactured, and marketed by Vertex in 2011 was the pharmaceutical Incivek.7 Telapre-vir is the generic name of Incivek.8 Vertex obtained approval to sell Incivek in the United States on May 23, 2011.9

Incivek was a protease inhibitor developed by Vertex and approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with hepatitis C (“HCV”).10 HCV is a serious and potentially fatal viral infection that damages a patient’s liver over time, potentially result[144]*144ing in the need for a liver transplant.11 Protease inhibitors are drugs that inhibit viral replication by interfering with the chemical process that viruses use to replicate themselves and produce infectious viral particles.12

Before the introduction of protease inhibitors, HCV was treated using a two-drug therapy of pegylated interferon and ribavirin.13

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247 F. Supp. 3d 138, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67941, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/physicians-healthsource-inc-v-vertex-pharmaceuticals-inc-mad-2017.