Tela Bio, Inc. v. Fed. Ins. Co.

313 F. Supp. 3d 646
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 16, 2018
DocketCIVIL ACTION No. 16–5585
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 313 F. Supp. 3d 646 (Tela Bio, Inc. v. Fed. Ins. Co.) 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
Tela Bio, Inc. v. Fed. Ins. Co., 313 F. Supp. 3d 646 (E.D. Pa. 2018).

Opinion

The Policy also contains a number of exclusionary provisions, including one that is relevant here, entitled "Intellectual Property Laws or Rights." (This exclusionary provision is referred to hereinafter as the "IP Rights Exclusion"). The IP Rights Exclusion provides, in relevant part:

A. This insurance does not apply to any damages, loss, cost or expense arising out of, giving rise to or in any way related to any actual, alleged or threated:
a. Assertion; or
b. Infringement or violation
by any person or organization (including any insured ) of any intellectual property law or right .
B. Further, this insurance does not apply to the entirety of all allegations in any claim or suit , if such claim or suit includes an allegation of or a reference to an infringement or violation of an intellectual property law or right , even if the insurance would otherwise apply to any part of the allegations in the claim or suit.

The Policy defines "intellectual property law or right" as, in relevant part, "any ... right to, or judicial or statutory law recognizing an interest in, any trade secret or confidential or proprietary non-personal information." (Policy, Doc. No. 1-3 at 96, Doc. No. 1-4 at 18.)

C. The Declaratory Judgment Action

In late January 2016-approximately ten months after the LifeCell Suit was filed in New Jersey state court-TELA Bio notified Federal Insurance of the LifeCell Suit, requesting a defense under the Policy. Believing that Federal Insurance would refuse to defend it, TELA Bio shortly thereafter brought this declaratory judgment action in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, seeking a declaration that the LifeCell Suit is covered by the Policy's Libel and Slander Provision.3 (Compl. ¶¶ 12-13.)

*652Federal Insurance moved to transfer venue to this Court, and the Honorable Freda L. Wolfson granted that motion in an Opinion dated October 25, 2016. Following transfer of venue to this Court, the parties filed the motions presently before me. (10/25/2016 Op., Doc. No. 1-41.)

In its Motion to Dismiss, Federal Insurance contends that TELA Bio has failed to state a claim for two reasons. First, Federal Insurance maintains that it had no duty to defend the LifeCell Suit because none of the factual allegations in the LifeCell Suit Complaint triggered coverage under the Policy's Libel and Slander Provision. Second, Federal Insurance contends that, even if the allegations in the LifeCell Suit Complaint triggered coverage under the Policy's Libel and Slander Provision, the Policy's IP Rights Exclusion precludes coverage for the entire suit such that Federal Insurance had no duty to defend.

For the reasons that follow, I conclude that Federal Insurance is correct on both points, and will therefore dismiss this action with prejudice for failure to state a claim.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

To survive a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a complaint must "contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to 'state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.' " Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ). The plausibility standard requires more than a "sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully." Id. While it "does not impose a probability requirement at the pleading stage," plausibility does require "enough facts to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of the necessary elements of a claim." Phillips v. Cty. of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 234 (3d Cir. 2008).

To determine the sufficiency of a complaint under Twombly and Iqbal, a court must take the following three steps: (1) the court must "tak[e] note of the elements a plaintiff must plead to state a claim;" (2) the court should identify the allegations that, "because they are no more than conclusions, are not entitled to the assumption of truth;" and (3) "where there are well-pleaded factual allegations, a court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement for relief." Burtch v. Milberg Factors, Inc., 662 F.3d 212, 221 (3d Cir. 2011) (citations omitted). Courts must construe the allegations in a complaint "in the light most favorable to the plaintiff." Id. at 220.

In evaluating a motion to dismiss, courts generally consider only the allegations contained in the complaint, the exhibits attached thereto, and matters of public record. Schmidt v. Skolas, 770 F.3d 241, 249 (3d Cir. 2014) ; Pryor v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n, 288 F.3d 548, 567 (3d Cir. 2002). "[A] complaint may not be dismissed merely because it appears unlikely that [a] plaintiff can prove those facts or will ultimately prevail on the merits." Connelly v. Lane Const. Corp., 809 F.3d 780, 790-91 (3d Cir. 2016) (quoting Phillips

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313 F. Supp. 3d 646, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tela-bio-inc-v-fed-ins-co-paed-2018.