Jackson v. St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation Division et al
Filing
59
ORDER. This case is REMANDED to the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in and for Lee County, Florida.The Clerk is DIRECTED to transmit a certified copy of this Order to the Clerk of the Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in and for Lee County, Florida. The Clerk is DIRECTED to close this case, terminate any scheduled hearings and deadlines, and deny any pending motions as moot. Signed by Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on 10/20/2014. (LMF)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
DANIEL JACKSON,
Plaintiff,
v.
Case No: 2:14-cv-318-FtM-38CM
ST. JUDE MEDICAL
NEUROMODULATION DIVISION,
MEDTRONIC, INC. and ALLSTATE
PROPERTY & CASUALTY
INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendants.
/
ORDER1
This matter is before the Court on Defendant Advanced Neuromodulation
Systems, Inc. d/b/a St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation Division's2 Response to Order to
Show Cause (Doc. #53) and Defendant Medtronic, Inc.'s Notice of Joinder in Defendant
St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation Division's Response to Order to Show Cause and
Renewal of Request for Severance (Doc. #54), both of which were filed on October 3,
2014.
1
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2
Defendant St. Jude notes that Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint proposes to name "St. Jude Medical
Neuromodulation Division" as a defendant in this matter. However, as the manufacturer of the medical
device Plaintiff Daniel Jackson alleges was implanted in his body, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems,
Inc. d/b/a St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation is the proper party to this action. (Doc. #53 at 1).
BACKGROUND
On June 8, 2011, Plaintiff was injured in a motor vehicle accident. (Doc. #5 at
¶ 4). Roughly one year later, Plaintiff initiated this personal injury action against the other
driver in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in and for Lee County, Florida
("Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court"). (Doc. #15 at 1).
On August 29, 2012, Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint naming Defendant
Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company ("Defendant Allstate"). (Doc. #15 at 2).
Defendant Allstate is Plaintiff's automobile insurer. Plaintiff alleged a single breach of
contract claim against Defendant Allstate for its alleged failure to make full and timely
medical and disability payments for his injuries that stemmed from the automobile
accident. (Doc. #5 at ¶¶ 6, 8; Doc. #15 at 2).
On December 13, 2013, Plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint (Doc. #5) in
which he added St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation Division ("Defendant St. Jude") and
Medtronic, Inc. ("Defendant Medtronic") as defendants and set forth various products
liability and negligence claims. Plaintiff purchased two medical devices from Defendants
St. Jude and Medtronic before and after the accident, and both devices have allegedly
malfunctioned. (Doc. #5 at ¶¶ 13, 44). On June 9, 2014, Defendant St. Jude timely filed
a Notice of Removal (Doc. #1) to which Defendants Allstate and Medtronic consented
(Doc. #3; Doc. #4).
Plaintiff thereafter filed a Motion to Remand (Doc. #15), arguing the Court lacked
subject matter jurisdiction over this case because he and Defendant Allstate were not
diverse parties. According to Plaintiff, his breach of contract claim against Defendant
Allstate was a "direct action" under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(c)(1), and thus he and Defendant
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Allstate were both citizens of Florida. By Order dated September 22, 2014 (Doc. #50),
the Court denied Plaintiff’s motion.
Though unconvinced by Plaintiff’s diversity of
citizenship arguments, the Court noted that the Second Amended Complaint and Notice
of Removal were unclear as to whether the breach of contract claim against Defendant
Allstate satisfied the amount in controversy requirement set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a).
(Doc. #50 at 8-9). Since the Court was uncertain whether Plaintiff sought only $10,183.93
in unpaid bills, or a greater amount, the Court directed Defendants to show cause as to
why the claim against Defendant Allstate satisfied the $75,000 threshold. (Doc. #50 at 89).
In accord with the Court's direction, Defendants St. Jude and Medtronic filed
responses (Doc. #53; Doc. #54), which the Court now considers.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and are obligated to inquire about
jurisdiction sua sponte whenever it may be lacking. See Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins.
Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994); Univ. of S. Ala. v. Am. Tobacco Co., 168 F.3d 405,
410 (11th Cir. 1999) (citations omitted). A defendant may remove a civil case from state
court provided the case could have been brought in federal court.
See 28 U.S.C.
§ 1441(a). Federal courts have original jurisdiction if the amount in controversy exceeds
$75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and there is complete diversity of citizenship
among the parties. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a); Morrison v. Allstate Indem. Co., 228 F.3d
1255, 1261 (11th Cir. 2000).
The defendant seeking removal bears the burden of
establishing diversity jurisdiction as of the date of the removal. See Moreland v. SunTrust
Bank, No. 2:13-cv-242-FtM-29UAM, 2013 WL 3716400, at *1 (M.D. Fla. July 15, 2013)
(citing Pretka v. Kolter City Plaza II, Inc., 608 F.3d 744, 751 (11th Cir. 2010); Sammie
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Bonner Constr. Co. v. W. Star Trucks Sales, Inc., 330 F.3d 1308, 1310 (11th Cir. 2003)).
Removal jurisdiction raises significant federalism concerns, and thus removal statues are
to be strictly construed. See Burns v. Windsor Ins. Co., 31 F.3d 1092, 1095 (11th Cir.
1994). Any doubt as to the presence of jurisdiction should be resolved in favor of remand.
See Russell Corp. v. Am. Home Assurance Co., 264 F.3d 1040, 1050 (11th Cir. 2001);
Pacheco de Perez v. AT&T Co., 139 F.3d 1368, 1373 (11th Cir. 1998).
With these principles in mind, the Court will address whether it has diversity
jurisdiction over this case.
DISCUSSION
A. Amount in controversy
In the Second Amended Complaint, Plaintiff demands damages "in excess of
$15,000." (Doc. #5 at ¶¶ 1, 8). According to Plaintiff, Defendant Allstate has denied him
compensation under the medical and disability payment provisions afforded in the
relevant insurance policy. (Doc. #5 at ¶¶ 1, 8). "Where, as here, the plaintiff has not pled
a specific amount of damages, the removing defendant must prove by a preponderance
of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeds the jurisdictional requirement."
See Williams v. Best Buy Co., 269 F.3d 1316, 1319 (11th Cir. 2001). "If the jurisdictional
amount is not facially apparent from the complaint, the court should look to the notice of
removal and may require evidence relevant to the amount in controversy at the time the
case was removed." Williams, 269 F.3d at 1319.
Defendant St. Jude presents two arguments as to why the amount in controversy
exceeds $75,000 as to Defendant Allstate: (1) the total medical charges, exclusive of any
write offs and adjustments, for Plaintiff's injuries exceeded the jurisdiction minimum; and
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(2) Plaintiff made a pre-suit settlement demand to Defendant Allstate for $300,000. (Doc.
#53 at 2-5). The Court is unpersuaded.
Defendant St. Jude falls short of demonstrating that Plaintiff's medical bills
establish the required amount in controversy. Prior to removal, Plaintiff responded to a
discovery request that asked him to "[l]ist each item of expense or damage . . . that you
claim to have incurred as a result of the incident described in the Complaint" with a Special
Damages form. (Doc. #1-3). Plaintiff listed $173,156.31 as the total charges for the
medical services he received.
(Doc. #1-3 at 9-10).
Of the $173,156.31 charged,
$79,639.33 represented write offs and adjustments, which left $93,516.98 as the actual
amount of medical expenses charged. (Doc. #1-3 at 9-10). Of the $93,516.98, Defendant
Allstate, Plaintiff, and WEB TPA, a third party administrator for private health insurance,
paid $83,333.05. (Doc. #1-3 at 9-10). Since $83,3330.05 had been paid, the remaining
unpaid amount of medical expenses totaled $10,183.93. (Doc. #1-3 at 9-10).
Defendant St. Jude acknowledges "only $10,183.93 remained to be paid following
payments made by Allstate, WEB TPA, and Plaintiff." (Doc. #53 at 3). But, it argues "the
total medical bills, regardless of payments by Allstate or adjustments and write-offs, total
in excess of $75,000[.]" (Doc. #53 at 3). As support, Defendant St. Jude cites to two
cases in which the courts "rejected the plaintiff's argument that the amount in controversy
requires assessment of balance of medical bills after insurance adjustments[.]" (Doc. #53
at 3 (citing Stramiello v. Petsmart, Inc., No. 8:10-cv-659-T-33TGW, 2010 WL 2136550
(M.D. Fla. May 26, 2010) and Henry v. K-Mart Corp. No. 8:10-cv-2105-T-33MAP, 2010
WL 5113558 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 9, 2010)). Defendant St. Jude's reliance on Stramiello and
Henry is misplaced.
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In Stramiello, plaintiff filed suit in state court against Petsmart, Inc. for injuries she
suffered in a slip and fall accident in defendant's store. Stramiello, 2010 WL 2136550, at
*1. Petsmart removed the case to federal court on grounds of diversity jurisdiction after
receiving documentation showing plaintiff's medical bills totaled $104,351.92. Id. Plaintiff
moved to remand, explaining she could only recover $22,446.95 in damages under
Florida Statute § 768.76's set off provision because her health insurance company had
paid $85,904.97 toward the medical bills. Id., at *1, 3. Since she would be entitled to less
than $75,000, plaintiff averred Petsmart had not established the amount in controversy
for federal jurisdiction. The court found plaintiff's argument unpersuasive because it
"fail[ed] to account for the fact that the [c]ourt must look to the amount in controversy at
the time of the removal." Id., at *4. According to the court, "subject matter jurisdiction is
not defeated simply because the parties might anticipate a future reduction in recoverable
damages." Id.; see also Henry, 2010 WL 5113558, at *4 (agreeing with Stramiello that
collateral source setoffs are not relevant to calculating jurisdiction amount at time of
removal).
Although attractive at first blush, Stramiello and Henry are distinguishable from the
case at hand. The cornerstone of the courts' jurisdictional decisions in Stramiello and
Henry was Florida Statute § 768.76. This section prohibits a plaintiff in a tort action from
recovering damages for expenses that have already been paid through a collateral
source. Fla. Stat. § 768.76. But, the instant case does present a situation in which a
future set off is at issue under § 768.76. Instead, the vast majority of Plaintiff’s medical
care had been paid at the time of removal, and been paid directly by Defendant Allstate.
In effect, Defendant St. Jude argues all of Plaintiff's medical expenses – even those
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Defendant Allstate was neither charged nor paid – go to the total amount in controversy.
But, Defendant St. Jude has neither offered persuasive authority nor pointed to a
document in the record for the Court to determine the amount in controversy is anything
more than $10,183.93.
The Court finds the Northern District of Oklahoma's decision in Singleton v.
Progressive Direct Ins. Co., No. 13-CV-785, 2014 WL 4437769 (N.D. Okla. Sep. 9, 2014)
to be instructive on this issue. In Singleton, defendant insurance company argued that
the plaintiff's breach of contract claim had value in excess of $75,000, relying particularly
on the plaintiff's pre-suit demand seeking recovery to the limits of the insurance policy. It
was undisputed, however, that defendant had already paid plaintiff $100,000, the full
extent of coverage under her policy. In finding plaintiff's breach of contract claim not to
satisfy the amount-in-controversy requirement, the court reasoned:
[w]here [plaintiff] has already received [defendant's] payment
of $100,000 for the [insurance] benefits under her policy,
however, she cannot seek to recover that amount again . . .
The value of [plaintiff's] breach of contract claim, then, must
exclude the value of [the insurance] policy benefits
[defendant] had already paid. The value of the claim is
instead limited to damages from [defendant's] alleged failure
to "pay policy benefits in a timely manner and to perform a
reasonable valuation of [plaintiff's] claim." [Plaintiff's] petition
does not assign a specific value to these damages, and
[defendant] provides no facts in its notice of removal to
suggest that the value of this portion of her claims even
remotely approaches $75,000.
Singleton, 2014 WL 4437769, at *3 (footnote omitted). As in Singleton, Defendant Allstate
has already paid a portion of Plaintiff's medical expenses (Doc. #53-1), and thus the value
of Plaintiff's breach of contract claim shall be limited to the damages Defendant Allstate
has failed to pay.
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Next, Defendant St. Jude argues Plaintiff's pre-suit demand to Defendant Allstate
for $300,000 is further evidence that he seeks damages in excess of $75,000. (Doc. #53
at 4; Doc. #53-3). This argument misses the mark. In the demand letter to Defendant
Allstate, Plaintiff made a blanket demand for the limits of his uninsured motorist policy
(i.e, $300,000). (Doc. #53-2). For reasons known only to Plaintiff, he did not itemize the
medical expenses he had incurred up until that time. See Mick v. De Vilbiss Air Power
Co., No. 6:10–cv–1390, 2010 WL 5140849, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 14, 2010) ("A demand
letter devoid of facts enabling the receiver to evaluate the claim may be considered
'nothing more than mere posturing'."); Reynolds v. Busch Entertainment Corp., No. 8:03cv-288-T-17MSS, 2003 WL 25569730, at *5 (M.D. Fla. June 18, 2003) ("Although the
[p]laintiff's demand letter ma[de] one specific statement concerning [p]laintiff's annual
salary, the remaining allegations in the letter d[id] not set forth any specific details as to
the amount of damages. Instead, the demand letter merely makes broad statements
concerning the types of injuries and treatments which may be required.").
Defendant St. Jude unpersuasively attempts to counter this glaring deficiency in
Plaintiff's demand to Defendant Allstate by pointing to an independent demand offer
Plaintiff made to Progressive Insurance Company, the insurance company for the other
vehicle involved in the underlying automobile accident. (Doc. #53 at 4; Doc. #53-3).
Specifically, Plaintiff demanded $500,000 from Progressive as "compensation for
[Plaintiff's] pain, suffering, discomfort, inconvenience, physical limitations and restrictions,
and loss of the ability to enjoy life" (Doc. #53-3 at 3); and, in that letter, Plaintiff itemized
$162,177.91 of medical expenses he had incurred (Doc. #53-3 at 2). According to
Defendant St. Jude, Plaintiff's itemization is "further evidence of his valuation of the claim"
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against Defendant Allstate. (Doc. #53 at 4-5). Plaintiff's demand letter to Progressive,
however, is alone insufficient evidence of his view of the amount in controversy as to
Defendant Allstate.
Since Defendant St. Jude has offered no case law indicating
otherwise, the Court declines to engage in speculation in order to create jurisdiction. See
Russell, 264 F.3d at 1050 (stating any doubt as to the presence of jurisdiction should be
resolved in favor of remand).
Accordingly, the Court finds that the amount in controversy as to Defendant
Allstate does not exceed the threshold minimum of $75,000 and remands this case.
B. Severance under Rule 21 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Citing to Rule 21 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Defendants St. Jude and
Medtronic argue, in the alternative, that if the Court finds the amount in controversy
requirement has not been met, the Court should sever and remand only the breach of
contract claim against Defendant Allstate. (Doc. #53 at 5).3 Rule 21 grants the Court
discretion to "sever any claim against a party." Fed. R. Civ. P. 21.
As previously noted, Plaintiff moved the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court for leave
to amend the First Amended Complaint in order to add the products liability and
negligence claims against Defendants St. Jude and Medtronic. (Doc. #7-1 at 106-19).
The Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court granted the motion (Doc. #7-2 at 6), and Plaintiff filed
the Second Amended Complaint (Doc. #5) on December 13, 2013. The Court will defer
3
Defendants St. Jude and Medtronic advise the Court that they incorporate by reference their arguments
for misjoinder from their previous filings. (Doc. #53 at 5; Doc. #54 at 1). The Court has again reviewed the
parties' previous papers in considering their instant motion. The Court, however, finds it fitting to remind
Defendants of Middle District of Florida Local Rule 3.01(a), which reads "[i]n a motion or other application
for an order, the movant shall include a concise statement of the precise relief requested, a statement of
the basis for the request, and a memorandum of legal authority in support of the request, all of which the
movant shall include in a single document not more than twenty-five (25) pages." M.D. Fla. Local R. 3.01(a)
(emphasis added).
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to the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court's consideration and decision in allowing Plaintiff to
pursue her claims against Defendants in a single action. See Burns, 31 F.3d at 1095
("Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. While a defendant does have a right,
given by statute, to remove in certain situations, plaintiff is still the master of his own
claim."). The state court is the proper tribunal to decide any issue of severance.
Accordingly, it is now
ORDERED:
(1) This case is REMANDED to the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit
in and for Lee County, Florida.
(2) The Clerk is DIRECTED to transmit a certified copy of this Order to the Clerk
of the Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in and for Lee County, Florida.
(3) The Clerk is DIRECTED to close this case, terminate any scheduled hearings
and deadlines, and deny any pending motions as moot.
DONE and ORDERED in Fort Myers, Florida this 20th day of October, 2014.
Copies: All Parties of Record
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