In re Pharm. Indust. Avg. Wholesale Price Lit.

• Decision Date: 09 January 2004
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A.01-12257-PBS.,No. MDL.NO.1456.,MDL.NO.1456.,CIV.A.01-12257-PBS.
• Citation: 307 F.Supp.2d 190
• Parties: In re PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY AVERAGE WHOLESALE PRICE LITIGATION. This Document Relates To: Swanston v. Tap Pharmaceutical Products, Inc. et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

307 F.Supp.2d 190

In re PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY AVERAGE WHOLESALE PRICE LITIGATION This Document Relates To Swanston v. Tap Pharmaceutical Products, Inc. et al.

No. MDL.NO.1456.

No. CIV.A.01-12257-PBS.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

January 9, 2004.

Jeffrey B. Aaronson, Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, Chicago, IL, for Baxter International, Inc., Defendant.

Daniel F. Attridge, Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, DC, for B. Braun Medical Inc., Defendant.

Gary L. Azorsky, Berger & Montague, PC, Philadelphia, PA, for Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc., Plaintiff.

Jason E. Baranski, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP, Philadelphia, PA, for Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc., Pharmacia Corp., Defendants.

Steven F. Barley, Hogan & Hartson, LLP, Baltimore, MD, for Amgen Inc., Defendant.

Rebecca Bedwell-Coll, Mascone, Emblidge & Quadra, San Francisco, CA, for Constance Thompson, John B. Rice, Plaintiffs.

Mark A. Berman, Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., Newark, NJ, for Berlax Laboratories, Inc., Reliant Pharmaceauticals, LLC, Defendants.

Steve W. Berman, Hagens & Berman, Seattle, WA, for State of Nevada, State of Montana, Plaintiffs.

David J. Bershad, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, New York, NY, for Citizens for Consumer Justice, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Congress of California Seniors, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, Health Care For All, Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Masspirg, Minnesota Senior Federation, New Jersey Citizen Action, New York State Wide Senior Action Council, Pennsylvania Alliance For Retired Americans, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, West Virginia Citizen Action, Wisconsin Citizen Action, Citizen Action of New York, Connecticut Citizen Action Group, Gray Panthers of Sacramento, Health Action of New Mexico, Maine Consumers for Affordable Health Care, North Carolina Fair Share, Oregon Health Action Campaign, Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, United Senior Action of Indiana, Inc., Betty Sicher, Jack Douglas, Joan S. Lee, John Bennett, Pearl Munic, Sue Miles, Plaintiffs.

Jack B. Blumenfeld, Morris, Nichols, Arsht, & Tunnell, Wilmington, DE, for Astrazeneca PLC, Consolidated Defendant.

Thomas L. Boeder, Perkins Coie, Seattle, WA, for Immunex Corp., Defendant.

Anthony Bolognese, Bolognese & Associates, Philadelphia, PA, for United Food & Commercial Workers Unions and Employers Midest Health Benefits Fund, Consolidated Plaintiff.

James J. Breen, Breen Law Firm, Alpharetta, GA, for Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc., Plaintiff.

Douglas S. Brooks, Kelly, Libby & Hoopes, PC, Boston, MA, for Amgen Inc., Defendant.

Nicole Y. Brumsted, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bemstein, LLP, Boston, MA, for Citizens for Consumer Justice, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Congress of California Seniors, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, Health Care For All, Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Masspirg, Minnesota Senior Federation, New Jersey Citizen Action, New York State Wide Senior Action Council, Pennsylvania Alliance For Retired Americans, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, West Virginia Citizen Action, Wisconsin Citizen Action, Plaintiffs.

Michael M. Buchman, Milbert, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, LLP, New York, NY, for Colorado Progressive Coalition, Congress of California Seniors, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, Health Care For All, Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Masspirg, Minnesota Senior Federation, New Jersey Citizen Action, New York State Wide Senior Action Council, Pennsylvania Alliance For Retired Americans, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, West Virginia Citizen Action, Wisconsin Citizen Action, Citizens for Consumer Justice, Citizen Action of New York, Connecticut Citizen Action Group, Gray Panthers of Sacramento, Health Action of New Mexico, Maine Consumers for Affordable Health Care, North Carolina Fair Share, Oregon Health Action Campaign, Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, United Senior Action of Indiana, Inc., Betty Sicher, Jack Douglas Joan S. Lee, John Bennett, Pearl Munic, Sue Miles, Plaintiffs.

James C. Burling, Hale & Dorr, LLP, Boston, MA, for American Home Products Corp., Biogen, Inc., Defendants.

David J. Burman, Perkins Coie, Seattle, WA, for Immunex Corp., Defendant.

Evan Dean Buxner, Chicago, IL, for All Plaintiffs, Plaintiff.

Tod S. Cashin, Buchanan Ingersoll, PC, Princeton, NJ, for Aventis Behring LLC, Consolidated Defendant.

Ronald L. Castle, Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin, Plotkin & Kahn, LLC, Washington, DC, for Chiron, Defendant.

William F. Cavanaugh, Jr., Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP, New York, NY, for Centocor, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Ortho Biotech Products, L.P., Consolidated Defendants.

David J. Cerveny, Hale & Dorr, LLP, Boston, MA, for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Defendant.

Joanne M. Cicala, Kirby McInerncy & Squire, New York, NY, for Suffolk County (N.Y.), Plaintiff.

Daniel J. Cloherty, Dwyer & Collora LLP, Boston, MA, for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Oncology Therapeutics Network Corp., Defendants.

Jonathan D Cohen, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Boston, MA, for Mylan Laboratories, Inc., Defendant.

Jeremy P. Cole, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Chicago, IL, for Abbott Laboratories, Defendant.

Christopher R. Cook, Jones Day, Washington, DC, for Abbott Laboratories, Defendant.

Michael R. Costa, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Boston, MA, for Mylan Laboratories, Inc., Defendant.

William M. Cowan, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, PC, Boston, MA, for Eli Lilly and Company, Defendant.

Jonathan W. Cuneo, Cuneo Law Group, Washington, DC, for Shirley Geller, Consolidated Plaintiff.

Christopher J. Cunio, Cooley, Manion, & Jones, LLP, Boston, MA, for ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Defendant.

Joseph Danis, The David Danis Law Firm, P.C., St. Loius, MO, for Citizen Action of New York, Connecticut Citizen Action Group, Gray Panthers of Sacramento, Health Action of New Mexico, Maine Consumers for Affordable Health Care, North Carolina Fair Share, Oregon Health Action Campaign, Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, United Senior Action of Indiana, Inc., Betty Sicher, Jack Douglas, Joan S. Lee, John Bennett, Pearl Munic, Sue Miles, All Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs.

William A. Davis, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, PC, Washington, DC, for Eli Lilly and Company, Defendant.

Michael DeMarco, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP, Boston, MA, for Aventis Pharmacy, Defendant.

Merle M. Delancey, Jr., Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP, Washington, DC, for Baxter International, Inc., Defendant.

Jeanne E. Demers, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP, Boston, MA, for Aventis Pharmacy, Defendant.

John C. Dodds, Morgan Lewis & Boskius, LLP, Philadelphia, PA, for Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc., Pharmacia Corp., Defendants.

Alan J. Droste, Pillsbury Winthrop, Costa Mesa, CA, for Gensia Sicor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Defendant.

Dennis M. Duggan, Jr., Nixon Peabody, LLP, Boston, MA, for Alpha Therapeutic Corporation, Defendant.

Kimberly A. Dunne, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, Los Angeles, CA.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SARIS, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff originally filed this lawsuit in Maricopa County, Arizona on March 18, 2002 seeking to recover damages for overcharges paid by patients for prescription drugs as a result of an alleged conspiracy to market and sell the drugs at inflated prices. Plaintiff initially named ten pharmaceutical company defendants and twenty individual defendants, and subsequently filed subsequent amended complaints, on June 28, 2002, and December 20, 2002, adding several additional corporate defendants, including GlaxoSmithKline, P.L.C. ("GSK"). On January 10, 2003, GSK filed a Notice of Removal.

Relying on the Rule of Unanimity, plaintiff moves to remand this case on the ground that the case was improperly removed to federal court because not all defendants consented to removal. Defendants respond that removal is appropriate because G.D. Searle & Co., Inc. ("Searle"), the defendant that failed to consent, was misnamed on the summons and, therefore, not properly served. After hearing and supplemental briefing, the motion to remand is ALLOWED.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Rule of Unanimity

In cases involving multiple defendants, all defendants who have been served must join or assent in the removal petition. See Montana v. Abbot Labs., 266 F.Supp.2d 250, 260 (D.Mass.2003) (citing Lapides v. Board of Regents of the Univ. Sys. of Ga., 535 U.S. 613, 620, 122 S.Ct. 1640, 152 L.Ed.2d 806 (2002)). This rule of unanimity requires that all defendants file their notice of removal or consent to removal within thirty days of being served, and failure to do so is a ground for remand. Id. at 260. While some courts have construed § 1446(b) to require that the consent to removal be in writing, see Getty Oil Corp. v. Ins. Co. of N. Am., 841 F.2d 1254, 1262 n. 11 (5th Cir.1988), most courts have held more generally that the rule of unanimity requires that each defendant's consent "be manifested clearly and unambiguously to the Court within the statutorily prescribed thirty days." Sansone v. Morton Machine Works, Inc., 188 F.Supp.2d 182, 184 (D.R.I.2002) (collecting cases and finding that "overwhelming weight of authority requir[es] that each defendant independently notify the court of its consent").

Plaintiff argues that the case must be remanded to state court regardless of Searle's lack of consent. Under the so-called "first-served defendant rule," a later-served defendant has no ability to remove the case to federal court if the thirty-day period has run with respect to an earlier-served defendant. See Getty Oil Corp., 841 F.2d at 1262-63 ("In cases involving multiple defendants, the thirty-day period begins to run as soon as the first defendant is served ...."); Brown v. Demco, Inc., 792 F.2d 478, 482 (5th Cir.1986) (holding that the unfairness of allowing defendants to remove after litigating for years in state court outweighs any unfairness in depriving later-served de...