Intus Care, Inc. v. RTZ Associates, Inc.
Filing
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ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT by Judge Jon S. Tigar denying 28 Motion to Dismiss. (kc, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 6/5/2024)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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INTUS CARE, INC.,
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Plaintiff,
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v.
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RTZ ASSOCIATES, INC.,
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Defendant.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
Case No. 24-cv-01132-JST
ORDER DENYING MOTION TO
DISMISS FIRST AMENDED
COMPLAINT
Re: ECF No. 28
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Before the Court is Defendant RTZ Associates, Inc.’s motion to dismiss the first amended
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complaint. ECF No. 28. The Court finds this motion suitable for resolution without oral
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argument, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 78(b); Civil L.R. 7-1(b), and will deny the motion.
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I.
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BACKGROUND
In the operative amended complaint, Plaintiff Intus Care, Inc. alleges the following: Intus
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is “a health analytics company” that contracts with health care providers (“Intus Clients”) who
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provide care through the federal Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (“PACE”). ECF
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No. 25 ¶¶ 1, 9. “Intus synthesizes data from each of the PACE programs’ electronic health
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records that stores its patients’ electronic health information, and uses that data to identify risks,
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visualize trends, and optimize patient care.” Id. ¶ 1. “Many Intus Clients store their patients’
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electronic health data in an electronic health record program called PACECare, which is operated
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by [Defendant] RTZ.” Id. ¶ 13.
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Intus alleges that, with the consent of both its clients and RTZ, it was able to obtain data
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from PACECare from June 2021 to September 2022. Id. ¶ 14. However, “starting in September
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2022, RTZ refused to provide Intus access to the data on PACECare and later prohibited Intus
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Clients from providing access to Intus.” Id. ¶ 2. RTZ and Intus attempted to negotiate an
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agreement for data sharing but were unsuccessful. Id. ¶¶ 15–19. In December 2023, one “Intus
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Client was told [by RTZ] that Intus could only be provided with standard files form a data export,
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requiring Intus Clients to go through the administrative burden and time-consuming process of
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manually downloading the data and then sending it to Intus.” Id. ¶ 20.
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Intus alleges that RTZ’s conduct was “driven by [its] desire to create a product that
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competes with Intus’s analytics products,” and that RTZ “announced a competing analytics
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product in March 2024.” Id. ¶ 22. Intus further alleges that “RTZ is leveraging its position as [an
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electronic medical records] provider to force Intus Clients to terminate their contractual
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relationships with Intus, and to force prospective clients not to contract with Intus.” Id. ¶ 32.
Intus’s original complaint asserted four claims for relief: (1) intentional interference with
United States District Court
Northern District of California
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contractual relations; (2) intentional interference with prospective economic advantage;
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(3) negligence per se; and (4) violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law, Cal. Bus. & Prof.
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Code §§ 17200 et seq. ECF No. 1 at 8–14. RTZ filed a motion to dismiss the negligence per se
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and unfair competition law claims. ECF No. 19. In lieu of opposing the motion, Intus filed an
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amended complaint, which removed the negligence per se claim and included additional factual
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allegations. ECF No. 25. RTZ now seeks dismissal only of Intus’s claim for intentional
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interference with prospective economic advantage. ECF No. 28.
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II.
The Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a).
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JURISDICTION
III.
LEGAL STANDARD
A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the
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pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a). Dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal
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Rules of Civil Procedure “is appropriate only where the complaint lacks a cognizable legal theory
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or sufficient facts to support a cognizable legal theory.” Mendiondo v. Centinela Hosp. Med. Ctr.,
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521 F.3d 1097, 1104 (9th Cir. 2008). A complaint need not contain detailed factual allegations,
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but facts pleaded by a plaintiff must be “enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative
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level.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). “To survive a motion to dismiss, a
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complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at
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570). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the
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court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id.
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In determining whether a plaintiff has met this plausibility standard, the Court must “accept all
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factual allegations in the complaint as true and construe the pleadings in the light most favorable”
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to the plaintiff. Knievel v. ESPN, 393 F.3d 1068, 1072 (9th Cir. 2005). Dismissal for failure to
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state a claim should be with leave to amend, “even if no request to amend the pleading was made,
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unless [the court] determines that the pleading could not possibly be cured by the allegation of
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other facts.” Cook, Perkiss & Liehe, Inc. v. N. Cal. Collection Serv. Inc., 911 F.2d 242, 247 (9th
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Cir. 1990).
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IV.
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DISCUSSION
RTZ has moved to dismiss Intus’s second claim, for intentional interference with
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prospective economic advantage, from the amended complaint. RTZ could have moved to dismiss
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this claim from the original complaint, but it did not do so. Intus argues that the Court should
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therefore deny the motion under Rule 12(g)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which
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provides that, with exceptions not applicable here, a party “must not make another motion under
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[Rule 12] raising a defense or objection that was available to the party but omitted from its earlier
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motion.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(g)(2). However, Rule 12(g)(2) must be read “in light of the general
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policy of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, expressed in Rule 1,” which “directs that the
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Federal Rules ‘be construed, administered, and employed by the court and the parties to secure the
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just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding.’” In re Apple iPhone
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Antitrust Litig., 846 F.3d 313, 318 (9th Cir. 2017) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 1), aff’d sub nom.
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Apple Inc. v. Pepper, 139 S. Ct. 1514 (2019). “Denying late-filed Rule 12(b)(6) motions . . . can
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produce unnecessary and costly delays, contrary to the direction of Rule 1,” id., and “courts faced
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with a successive motion [to dismiss that raises arguments that could have been raised in a prior
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motion] often exercise their discretion to consider the new arguments in the interests of judicial
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economy,” Amaretto Ranch Breedables, LLC v. Ozimals, Inc., No. C 10-05696 CRB, 2011 WL
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2690437, at *2 (N.D. Cal. July 8, 2011). The Court will do so here.
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A claim for intentional interference with prospective economic advantage has five
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elements:
(1) an economic relationship between the plaintiff and some third
party, with the probability of future economic benefit to the plaintiff;
(2) the defendant’s knowledge of the relationship; (3) intentional
acts on the part of the defendant designed to disrupt the relationship;
(4) actual disruption of the relationship; and (5) economic harm to
the plaintiff proximately caused by the acts of the defendant.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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CRST Van Expedited, Inc. v. Werner Enters., Inc., 479 F.3d 1099, 1108 (9th Cir. 2007) (quoting
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Korea Supply Co. v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 29 Cal. 4th 1134, 1153 (2003) (quotation marks and
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citations omitted)). RTZ challenges only whether Intus has sufficiently alleged the third element,
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which requires that “the defendant’s acts [be] wrongful apart from the interference itself”—i.e.,
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that one or more acts be “independently wrongful.” Korea Supply Co., 29 Cal., 4th at 1154, 1158.
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“[A]n act is independently wrongful if it is unlawful, that is, if it is proscribed by some
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constitutional, statutory, regulatory, common law, or other determinable legal standard.” Id. at
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1159.
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According to RTZ, Intus’s claim is based solely on allegations that RTZ engaged in
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“information blocking,” which is subject to civil monetary penalties under the 21st Century Cures
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Act, 42 U.S.C. § 300jj-52. RTZ further argues that a violation of the Cures Act cannot form the
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basis for an intentional interference with prospective economic advantage claim because there is
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no private right of action under that act.
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However, RTZ does not and cannot dispute that the Cures Act is a “statutory . . . legal
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standard” that proscribes information blocking. Korea Supply Co., 29 Cal. 4th at 1159. This
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makes the alleged conduct “independently wrongful” under California law. Id. Indeed, Korea
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Supply Co. forecloses RTZ’s argument that the alleged wrongful conduct must be privately
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actionable by the plaintiff. In that case, the California Supreme Court concluded that “the
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independent wrongfulness requirement” was “clearly satisfied” by alleged actions that violated the
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Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) without considering whether the FCPA provided a
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private right of action. Korea Supply Co., 29 Cal. 4th at 1159. Other courts have explained that
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the FCPA is enforced by “[t]he Justice Department and the SEC,” Clayco Petroleum Corp. v.
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Occidental Petroleum Corp., 712 F.2d 404, 409 (9th Cir. 1983), and does not provide for a private
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right of action, e.g., Republic of Iraq v. ABB AG, 768 F.3d 145, 171 (2d Cir. 2014); Lamb v.
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Phillip Morris, Inc., 915 F.2d 1024, 1024 (6th Cir. 1990). Similarly, a plaintiff may recover under
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an intentional interference with prospective economic advantage claim where the intentional act is
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independently tortious only as to a third party, and not to the plaintiff themselves—i.e., where only
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a third party could have brought a claim based on the underlying act. Korea Supply Co., 29 Cal.
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4th at 1162–64. Thus, it is of no moment that Intus could not have brought a claim against RTZ
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under the Cures Act.
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Northern District of California
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In its reply, RTZ argues that the independent act must be “litigated . . . in civil courts.”
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ECF No. 35 at 16. However, although the tort of intentional interference with prospective
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economic advantage is intended to punish only interference that “amounts to independently
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actionable conduct,” Korea Supply Co., 29 Cal. 4th at 1159, it does not require that the alleged
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conduct be actionable in a court of law. To the contrary, a claim may lie, for example, where the
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defendant allegedly violates the “rules or standards of associations, trades and professions,” as
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long as “internal remedies [are] available within the association, such as a right of arbitration
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between the aggrieved members.” Stevenson Real Est. Servs., Inc. v. CB Richard Ellis Real Est.
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Servs., Inc., 138 Cal. App. 4th 1215, 1223–24 (2006). Here, RTZ acknowledges that the Cures
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Act provides for such an internal remedy: “a formal and structured complaint and enforcement
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process.” ECF No. 28 at 17.
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Because alleged violations of the Cures Act are sufficient to allege the wrongful conduct
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required to state an intentional interference of prospective economic advantage claim, the Court
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need not decide whether the complaint sufficiently alleges other bases for that claim. The parties
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can resolve the scope of the claim during discovery.
CONCLUSION
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For the above reasons, RTZ’s motion to dismiss is denied.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated: June 5, 2024
______________________________________
JON S. TIGAR
United States District Judge
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