Scarlett v. Air Methods Corp.
| Citation | 538 F.Supp.3d 1205 |
| Decision Date | 11 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No 16-cv-02723-RBJ,19-cv-01951,Consolidated Cases: 17-cv-00485; 17-cv-00502; 17-cv-00509; 17-cv-00667; 17-cv-791; 19-cv-01771; |
| Parties | Jeremy Lee SCARLETT, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. AIR METHODS CORPORATION and Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
Abby Caroline Harder, Michael D. Plachy, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP, Thomas Melvin Rogers, III, Recht & Kornfeld, P.C., Mitchell Baker, Mitch Baker, Attorney at Law, Denver, CO, Gary E. Mason, Mason Lietz & Klinger LLP, Washington, DC, Jonathan N. Shub, Kohn Swift & Graf, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, Troy M. Frederick, Frederick Law Group, PLLC, Indiana, PA, for Plaintiff Jeremy Lee Scarlett.
Richard Joseph Burke, Zachary Allen Jacobs, Quantum Legal LLC, Bannockburn, IL, Thomas Melvin Rogers, III, Recht & Kornfeld, P.C., Michael D. Plachy, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP, Denver, CO, for Plaintiff Yolanda O'Neale.
Amy Dawn Fitts, Polsinelli PC, Kansas City, MO, David Alan King, Polsinelli PC, Nashville, TN, Jessica Jodene Smith, Matthew J. Smith, Holland & Hart LLP, Denver, CO, for Defendants Air Methods Corporation, Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC.
ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
This matter is before the Court on remand from the Tenth Circuit, which asked me to address a single issue: whether an express or implied-in-fact contract exists between the parties. Before the Court are two pending motions for summary judgment filed by separate plaintiff groups. ECF Nos. 181, 185. For the following reasons, I GRANT plaintiffs’ motions for summary judgment and find that no contracts were formed.
This is a putative class action brought on behalf of patients, their legal custodians, or the estates of deceased patients, who allege that they were charged exorbitant fees by defendants for medical transport by helicopter.
Air Methods Corporation and Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC ("defendants") provide helicopter transport to individuals that are suffering from emergency medical conditions. Both entities are incorporated in Delaware. Rocky Mountain Holdings owns Air Methods Corporation, and defendants jointly collect all service fees. There are two groups of plaintiffs in this case. The first group ("Cowen plaintiffs") includes Randall and Ashley Cowen, who live in Missouri; Lana and Grif Hughes, who also live in Missouri; Kenneth Kranhold and Jonathan Armato, who live in Arizona; and Yolanda O'Neale, who lives in Alabama. The second group ("Dequasie plaintiffs") includes six individuals from Oklahoma: Richard Dequasie, Dwain Patillo, Kathleen Pence, Kara Ridley, Sandra Saenz, and Miranda Taylor.
Defendants provide medical transport via helicopter to patients experiencing medical emergencies. Defendants do not self-dispatch—they only provide medical transport if a physician, qualified first responder, or other qualified medical provider determines that air transport is medically necessary and recommends that the patient be air transported. ECF No. 181-1 at 149 :8-10. Because defendants are governed by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act ("EMTALA") they are prohibited from considering a patient's ability to pay prior to transport. Id. at 114:20–115:2. Instead, irrespective of a patient's ability to pay, they must transport the patient if a physician deems it medically necessary. Id. The only circumstance in which transport is deemed medically necessary but does not occur is when the patient refuses transport. Id. at 147:8-10. If a patient refuses transport, the patient must sign a document that codifies that refusal and releases defendants from all liability.
Defendants require completion of three documents for each patient: the authorization and consent form ("A&C"), the assignment of benefits form ("AOB"), and the physicians’ certification statement ("PCS"). ECF No. 204 at 2. The PCS is completed by the doctor and confirms that air transport is medically necessary. Id. at 86:7-11. The A&C is signed, usually by a patient's family member, prior to transport. The AOB is completed and signed following transport. ECF No. 182-1.
ECF Nos. 182, 182-1. Air Methods requires its employees to ensure that the A&C is signed for every flight at the time of transport. ECF No. 181-1 at 67 :5-13. The employees make every attempt to get the patient to sign the form directly. However, depending on the nature of the patient's medical emergency, that may be impossible. In cases where a patient cannot sign, a spouse or another representative typically signs the A&C on the patient's behalf. If there is no family representative to sign, then an Air Methods employee signs the form. Id. at 239:11-15.
Defendants unilaterally set the price for their services and do not determine price based on any health-related services provided by EMTs while patients are in the ambulance. Instead, they use two numbers to determine the cost of each flight. These numbers differ depending on where the flight occurs. The first is the base charge or "lift fee," which the plaintiffs will be charged regardless of the number of miles they travel. Id. at 232:6-13. The lift rate is around $30,000.00 across all geographical areas related to this case. ECF No. 182-5. The second is the mileage rate, and this amount depends on the number of miles traveled. The mileage rate is approximately $300.00 per mile. Id. Following each flight, Air Methods bills the patient for its services based on these numbers.
Neither the A&C form nor any other document provided to patients or their representatives prior to transport mentions the price or how price will be determined. ECF No. 181-1 at 33 :25-34:2. Defendants and patients, patient representatives, or healthcare providers do not negotiate the service price or any of the terms in the A&C and AOB forms prior to transport. Patients are frequently unconscious at the time of transport, and they are therefore physically unable to sign the A&C form, much less haggle over its terms. Furthermore, because Air Methods responds to medical emergencies, time is of the essence, and there would typically be no time to negotiate. Id. at 83:7-11. The financial responsibility provision itself cannot quickly be edited by the patients or their representatives at the time of signing. It reads ECF No. 186 at 1. Thus, for patients or their representatives to object to the terms of the forms they would need to renegotiate an entirely new form and get it signed by defendants—a feat that is impossible, practically speaking, given the emergency nature of the situation.
Ashley and Randal Cowen required medical transport for their minor son, J. Cowen, who suffered a puncture wound to the neck
when he fell on his scooter's handlebars. ECF No. 181-3 at 22 :1-4. A ground ambulance initially transported him to a local hospital. However, the emergency room physician determined that J. Cowen had received potentially life-threatening injuries that required specialized pediatric care. Id. at 35:4-10. The treating physician requested air transport from defendants and signed the PCS form. Ashley Cowen signed the A&C form prior to transport. Id. at 73:15-20. According to Mr. Cowen there was no discussion of the form, no negotiations, and no communication with the flight crew. Id. at 87:16-17. Following the incident Randal Cowen received the AOB form in the mail. Id. at 100:22-24. He assumed that it was part of the insurance process and signed and returned the form. Id. Air Methods charged the Cowens $42,172.53, and their insurance company covered only $4,955.77 of that amount. ECF No. 182-5.
On November 14, 2015 Keith Kranhold, an eighty-two-year-old man, fell at his Arizona home and lost consciousness. ECF No. 181 at 6. Mr. Kranhold never regained consciousness. He died on November 18, 2015. Prior to his death, Mr. Kranhold was transported by ground ambulance to a hospital in Prescott, Arizona, where he was diagnosed with a left temporal lode hematoma
. Air Methods subsequently transported him to a hospital that was better equipped to treat Mr. Kranhold's condition. Prior to the transport, his eighty-six-year-old wife Ellen von Brentano signed the A&C form. Ms. von Brentano suffered from Parkinson's Disease and Lewy bodies with dementia. ECF No. 181-1 at 54 :5-8. Defendants charged Mr. Kranhold $54,999.00. Their insurance paid $12,612.25, leaving a balance of $42,386.75. ECF No. 182-7.
On August 17, 2014 Yolanda O'Neale collapsed while at work in Alabama. A ground ambulance arrived, and the E.M.T. determined that Ms. O'Neale had suffered a stroke and had "altered levels of consciousness." ECF No. 182-8 at 1. The emergency medical services team requested air transport at the scene and signed the PCS form. An Air Methods crew member signed Ms. O'Neale’s A&C form. Ms. O'Neale states that she did not voluntarily go on the...
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