Reynolds v. Winn-Dixie Raleigh, Inc.

85 F. Supp. 3d 1365, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2335, 2015 WL 136375
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 9, 2015
DocketCase No. 4:13-CV-475 (CDL)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 85 F. Supp. 3d 1365 (Reynolds v. Winn-Dixie Raleigh, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reynolds v. Winn-Dixie Raleigh, Inc., 85 F. Supp. 3d 1365, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2335, 2015 WL 136375 (M.D. Ga. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

CLAY D. LAND, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff James Frank Reynolds (“Reynolds”), a pharmacist, claims that his former employer, Defendant Winn-Dixie Raleigh, Inc. (‘Winn-Dixie”): (1) disciplined him more harshly than a female pharmacist, (2) terminated him after he complained about the disparate discipline, and (3) terminated him after he warned that Winn-Dixie was submitting potentially fraudulent claims to Medicaid. Reynolds brings discrimination and retaliation claims under Title VIP of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and a retaliation claim under the False Claims Act, 31 [1368]*1368U.S.C. § 3730(h). Presently pending before the Court is Winn-Dixie’s summary judgment motion. (ECF No. 15). For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants the motion.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Summary judgment may be granted only “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). In determining whether a genuine dispute of material fact exists to defeat a motion for summary judgment, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment, drawing all justifiable inferences in the opposing party’s favor. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A fact is material if it is relevant or necessary to the outcome of the suit. Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. A factual dispute is genuine if the evidence would allow a reasonable jury to return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Id.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Viewed in the light most favorable to Reynolds, the record reveals the following.

Winn-Dixie hired Reynolds as a pharmacist on February 16, 2012. During his employment with Winn-Dixie, Reynolds worked with another pharmacist, Georgia Todd. Todd, who is female, was designated “pharmacy manager.” As manager, Todd’s responsibilities included additional administrative tasks such as overseeing the pharmacy inventory, payroll procedure, and customer service. Reynolds downplays Todd’s role as manager, insisting that she “just happened to be the individual responsible for the overall or general operations of the pharmacy.” Reynolds Dep. 235:5-7, ECF No. 15-3. He describes their relationship as that of “partner” and “peer.” Id. at 235:4. They both reported directly to Chad Brabston, the pharmacy district manager.

I. The Missing Xanax

In January 2013, Reynolds discovered that more than 1000 Xanax pills were missing from the pharmacy inventory, and he notified district manager Brabston. Reynolds told Brabston that he believed a pharmacy employee diverted the medicine for personal use. Brabston instructed Reynolds “to only share the results of [his] conclusions with him privately and not with [Todd,] the pharmacy manager.” Id. at 189:13-15. Reynolds ignored this instruction and informed Todd of the missing medication. Reynolds contends that his reporting the missing medication relates to Winn-Dixie’s subsequent decision to terminate his employment and thus gives rise to a retaliation claim under the False Claims Act.

II. CJ’s Prescription

Reynolds’s Title VII discrimination and retaliation claims arise from an incident involving one of his long-time customers, “CJ.” CJ received Medicaid, and his coverage was set to expire pending renewal at the end of 2012. On December 30, 2012, the day before his Medicaid coverage expired, CJ had surgery. The day CJ was discharged from surgery, January 13, 2013, a nurse practitioner wrote CJ a prescription for five medications.

The next day, CJ’s sister brought the prescription to the Winn-Dixie pharmacy. Todd was on duty and determined that CJ’s Medicaid coverage expired at the end of 2012, which meant that Medicaid would not pay for the prescribed medications. Todd informed CJ’s sister that she needed to pay cash for the medications. Unable to afford the payment, CJ’s sister left without the medications.

[1369]*1369The following day, CJ’s sister telephoned Reynolds. The sister informed Reynolds of her unsuccessful attempt to fill the prescription. Reynolds believed that Medicaid should pay for the prescribed medications. He rationalized that it was not “Medicaid’s intention to pay for only part of a surgery.” Id. at 97:1-2. Since Medicaid typically covers all medication incidental to surgery, Reynolds concluded that the proper date to put on the prescription was the date of the surgery (December 30, 2012) rather than the date of discharge (January 13, 2013). Reynolds thought that Medicaid would renew CJ’s coverage and pay for the prescribed medicine retroactively.

To obtain Medicaid coverage for the prescription, Reynolds called CJ’s surgeon, spoke to “someone in authority” at the office, and asked them to send “something that was written” to support dating a prescription for one of the five medications, Lovenox, for December 30, 2012. Id. at 60:4-61:12, 73:1-10. An unidentified employee at the surgeon’s office verbally agreed to prepare a new prescription for Lovenox dated December 30, 2012. As to the other four medications prescribed by the nurse practitioner, Reynolds does not recall requesting a new prescription.

Based on the verbal promise from the surgeon’s office but before receiving the revised prescription in writing, Reynolds re-submitted a prescription for Lovenox and Furosemide in the pharmacy computer system and dated it December 30, 2012. Reynolds then submitted claims to Medicaid for Lovenox and Furosemide, also dated December 30, 2012. Reynolds printed labels for the containers. The pharmacy did not have Lovenox in stock, so Reynolds ordered additional Lovenox. As for the other prescribed medications, Reynolds admits that he “dispensed” (i.e. filled the containers with medication) some but not all of the medications. Id. at 103:2-14.

In an attempt to explain this atypical transaction, Reynolds made a note on the original prescription indicating that the medication was incidental to a surgery performed in December. He expected the situation to “explain itself’ when CJ presented the new prescription dated December 30 at the time of pickup. Id. at 90:7-12.

The following day, CJ’s surgeon issued a new prescription for Lovenox dated December 30, 2012, as requested by Reynolds. That same day, CJ’s sister came to the Winn-Dixie pharmacy to pick up the medications. When CJ’s sister arrived, Todd gave her the Furosemide which had been prepared by Reynolds the previous day. Todd does not recall, but does not deny, putting the recently restocked Love-nox into the container prepared by Reynolds and giving it to CJ’s sister. CJ’s sister never presented the new prescription, dated December 30, 2012. Todd took no steps to verify the prescription before giving the medication to CJ’s sister.

III. The Aftermath of CJ’s Prescription

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Bluebook (online)
85 F. Supp. 3d 1365, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2335, 2015 WL 136375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reynolds-v-winn-dixie-raleigh-inc-gamd-2015.