United Therapeutics Corporation v. Liquidia Technologies, Inc.

District Court, D. Delaware·Decided November 12, 2024·No. 1:23-cv-00975·Unknown

Opinion

INT HEU NITSETDA TDEISS TRCIOCUTR T FORT HED ISTROIFCD TE LAWARE UNITED THERAPEUTIC)S CORPORATION, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) V. ) CivAicltN ioo2.n3 -975-RGA-SRF ) LIQUITDEAC HNOLOIGNICE.S,, ) ) Defendant. ) MEMORANDOURMD ER AtW ilmitnhg1it2sotd nah oy fN ovem2b0e2rt4,hc, eo uhratv cionngs itdheer ed partielse'ts tuebrm iasnsadis osnoscfi ilai(tnDeg.1ds17 D.9. ;1I 8.D0 .;1I 8.D1 .;1I 8.D4 .;I . 18),5I TI SO RDERtEhDta htpe e ndmiontgai Dto. n1I 5.i1 as d dreassfos leldo ws: DEFENDANITS'SSU ES 1.Defendmaonttifo'orasn u nilaetxetreanolsft i hfaoecn at n edx pdeirstc overy deadlbiyn emoson neit DshE NIwEiDt hporuetj u"dAsi cchee.md aubyle me o diofineldy forg oocda uasnwedi tthhje u dgceo'nss eFneRtd...C " iP v1..6 )(()b4;L ehmBarnoH so.l dings vG.ateFwuanydD iinvge rMsoifireStdeg r.Lv .sP7.8.,F5, . 3d1 09(263 C,di 2r0.)1. T5 os atisfy thgeo ocda usstean dthaerm do,v amnutss th otwh "adte,s iptoiswt dnei liegffeonsrtct hse,d uling deadclainnnboeemts e tS.i"e mMeendSs.o lUsS.AI ,nv cH..u medIincCca..,AN,. o 1 .4 -880- LPS-C2J0B1WL,5 1 738a1*t81 (6 D,D. e Alp.8r 2,.0 )1.T5 haen altyurnssoi nts h "ed iligence oft hmeo vanatnn,do otnp rejtutodh ineco en -mpoavrtiyIn.gd.(" q uoCtlionFugad rA ms socs. L.vPV..o lksGwraopgAf.em nI. n Cc..AN,.o 1 .0 -5022-0L1WP2LS3 ,0 69a3*t92 (0 D,D. e l. Ju2l7y2, 0 )1.)2 2. Defendant cites two late or ongoing document productions and one third-party deposition that has not yet been scheduled to justify its request for a unilateral one-month extension of the November 13, 2024 fact discovery deadline. (D.I. 179 at 2) Asa preliminary matter, Defendant cites no case authority to support a request for extension of the fact and expert discovery deadlines for itself, while maintaining the existing deadlines for Plaintiff. Moreover, the record before the court does not support Defendant’s position that an extension of the case schedule is necessary to accommodate the remaining fact discovery. See McGoveran v. Amazon Web Servs., Inc., C.A. No. 20-1399-SB, 2024 WL 4533598, at *2 (D. Del. Oct. 18, 2024) (declining to “extend discovery wholesale” where the defendant failed to identify ‘particular depositions that hinge[ ] on late-breaking documents and reasons why they could not be completed by the deadline.”). 3. Defendant first argues that Plaintiff's belated production of custodial documents from inventor Peter Smith after the deadline for substantial completion of document production warrants a unilateral extension of the fact and expert discovery deadlines. (D.I. 179 at 2) Defendant represents that Smith’s custodial documents were produced by October 23, 2024, and his deposition was rescheduled for the last day of fact discovery on November 13, 2024. Ex. 17) Defendant does not suggest that it has insufficient time to prepare for Smith’s rescheduled deposition within the fact discovery period. Instead, Defendant’s argument focuses on unspecified prejudice resulting from the need to reschedule Smith’s deposition caused by the belated document production. (/d.) Defendant has not shown that the scheduling order deadlines cannot be met, and its focus on alleged prejudice does not support its good cause argument. See Siemens, 2015 WL 1738186, at *1 (explaining that satisfaction of the good cause requirement depends on the diligence of the movant, and not on prejudice to the non-moving party).

4. Next, Defendant contends that it was prejudiced by Plaintiff's incomplete document production in response to several Requests for Production. (D.I. 179 at 2) This alleged deficiency was raised for the first time on October 18, 2024, one day after the parties filed their joint motion requesting a teleconference, and it is therefore not ripe for the court’s review. (/d., Ex. 18 at 2-3; D.I. 151) Defendant ties this argument to its position that Plaintiff withheld communications involving Drs. Rajan and Rajeev Saggar. (/d. at 2) But Defendant’s own submission confirms that documents from Dr. Rajan Saggar were produced on October 28 in response to a third-party subpoena. (D.I. 179, Ex. 18 at 1) The record also confirms that counsel for Defendant represents Dr. Rajan Saggar in connection with the subpoena, and documents from Dr. Rajeev Saggar were available to Defendant in his capacity as Defendant’s CMO. (/d., Ex. 19 at 1; D.I. 185, Ex. 2) Moreover, Plaintiff confirmed that it reviewed and produced all responsive communications involving both individuals that were within the custodial files. (D.I. 179, Ex. 19 at 1) Defendant has not persuasively shown that an extension of the discovery deadlines is necessary to accommodate the production and review of communications involving Drs. Rajan and Rajeev Saggar. 5. Finally, Defendant argues that Plaintiff has still not provided a deposition date for third party Dr. Aaron Waxman. (D.1. 179 at 2) Defendant acknowledges that other fact depositions are already scheduled to proceed after the close of fact discovery and fails to explain why the likelihood of an out-of-time deposition for Dr. Waxman requires a one-month extension of the fact discovery deadline. (/d.) 6. Defendant’s motion to compel Plaintiff to respond to Interrogatory Nos. 4 and 5 is GRANTED. Defendant’s Interrogatory Nos. 4 and 5 seek Plaintiff's contentions regarding the mechanism of action of treprostinil in treating pulmonary hypertension associated with

interstitial lung disease (““PH-ILD”) and the priority date of asserted U.S. Patent No. 11,826,327 (“the ’327 patent”), respectively. (D.I. 179 at 3; Ex. 11 at 49-51) Plaintiff argues that it responded to the interrogatories by producing documents under Rule 33(d), and the requests otherwise improperly seek expert discovery. (D.I. 185 at 3) Plaintiff has nonetheless agreed to supplement its responses to Interrogatory Nos. 4 and 5 prior to the fact discovery cutoff on November 13, 2024. Ud) 7. Plaintiff shall supplement its responses to Interrogatory Nos. 4 and 5 on or before November 19, 2024.! Plaintiff's supplementation shall include narrative responses to the interrogatories, consistent with case authority from this district holding that “Rule 33(d) has no place in a response to a contention interrogatory in which the requesting party is seeking to learn what the other party’s position is with respect to a material issue in the case.” JOENGINE, LLC v. PayPal Holdings, Inc., C.A. No. 18-452-WCB, 2021 WL 12160836, at *4 (D. Del. Oct. 22, 2021). Plaintiff is not required to provide its expert opinion on the mechanism of action of inhaled treprostinil or the priority date of the °327 patent in its supplemental interrogatory responses, but the supplementation shall include a narrative response describing how the information contained in the cited documents supports Plaintiffs positions. Id. at *2-4; see Blast Motion, Inc. v. Zepp Labs, Inc., 2016 WL 5107677, at *3 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 2, 2016) (granting motion to compel further responses to contention interrogatory regarding priority date discovery after parties had served their infringement and invalidity contentions).

! Although Plaintiff agreed to supplement its responses to Interrogatory Nos. 4 and 5 by the fact discovery deadline on November 13, 2024, additional time is granted due to the temporal proximity of this Memorandum Order to the fact discovery deadline.

8. Defendant’s motion to compel Plaintiff to provide a date for the deposition of Dr. Martine Rothblatt is DENIED without prejudice. The parties dispute whether a deposition of Dr. Martine Rothblatt, Plaintiff's CEO, is proper under the apex doctrine, which generally bars the deposition of a high-ranking official if that official “does not have first-hand knowledge of relevant information, or if there are others equally well (or better) situated to provide such information.” British Telecommc’ns PLC v. IAC/Interactivecorp, C.A. No. 18-366- WCB, 2020 WL 1043974, at *8 (D. Del. Mar. 4, 2020). Defendant alleges that Dr.

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United Therapeutics Corporation v. Liquidia Technologies, Inc., (D. Del. 2024).

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