Villare v. Beebe Medical Center, Inc., Civ. No. 08-950-SLR.

• Decision Date: 01 July 2009
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 08-950-SLR.
• Citation: 630 F.Supp.2d 418
• Parties: Robert C. VILLARE, M.D. and Delaware Valley Physicians & Surgeons, PA, Plaintiffs, v. BEEBE MEDICAL CENTER, INC.; Cape Surgical Associates, PA; Erik Stancofski, M.D.; Southern Delaware Surgery Center, LLC; James Spellman, M.D.; and James Spellman, M.D., LLC, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Delaware

630 F.Supp.2d 418

Robert C. VILLARE, M.D. and Delaware Valley Physicians & Surgeons, PA, Plaintiffs, v. BEEBE MEDICAL CENTER, INC.; Cape Surgical Associates, PA; Erik Stancofski, M.D.; Southern Delaware Surgery Center, LLC; James Spellman, M.D.; and James Spellman, M.D., LLC, Defendants.

Civ. No. 08-950-SLR.

United States District Court, D. Delaware.

July 1, 2009.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Kevin William Gibson, Esquire of Gibson & Perkins P.C., Media, PA, for Plaintiffs.

Sean J. Bellew, Esquire and David A. Felice, Esquire of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, Wilmington, DE, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SUE L. ROBINSON, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs Robert C. Villare, M.D. ("Villare") and Delaware Valley Physicians & Surgeons PA ("DVPS") (collectively, "plaintiffs") filed their complaint in this antitrust action in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware in and for New Castle County on October 20, 2008. (D.I. 1, ex. A) The complaint asserted the following "counts" against various defendants: (1) breach of contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing (by defendant Beebe Medical Center, Inc. ("Beebe")) ("count I"); (2) interference with present and prospective contractual relations (against Beebe)("count II"); (3) interference with present and prospective contractual relations (against defendants Cape Surgical Associates, PA ("Cape Surgical") and Erik Stancofski, M.D.) ("count III"); (4) interference with present and prospective contractual relations (against defendants Southern Delaware Surgery Center, LLC ("SDSC") and Dr. Stancofski) ("count IV"); (5) breach of contract (against Beebe) ("count V"); (6) unjust enrichment (against defendants Dr. Stancofski and Cape) ("count VI"); (7) civil conspiracy (against all defendants) ("count VII"); (8) breach of contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing (against SDSC) ("count VIII"); (9) a violation of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 (against all defendants) ("count IX"); and (10) a violation of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2 (against all defendants) ("count X"). (Id.) Defendants removed the case to this court on December 17, 1008 (id.) and, in lieu of an answer, filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. (D.I. 5) For the following reasons, the court grants defendants' motion with respect to plaintiffs' federal antitrust claims, remands plaintiffs' remaining claims to the Superior Court for the State of Delaware, and denies as moot defendants' motion to dismiss count III.

II. BACKGROUND

Dr. Villare is a general surgeon specializing in thoracic and vascular surgery. (D.I. 1, ex. A at ¶ p) Dr. Villare was the sole shareholder and principal officer of DVPS, a private medical specialty practice. (Id. at ¶ 13) Beebe is a non-profit community hospital where Dr. Villare practiced medicine from his initial appointment to Beebe's staff in 1999 to 2005. (Id. at ¶¶ 10-12) Dr. Villare received a standard two-year appointment in 1999; he was subsequently re-appointed in 2001 and 2003. (Id. at ¶ 11)

James Spellman, M.D. is the Chief of Beebe's Department of Surgery and a principal of Spellman, LLC, a private surgical practice. (Id. at ¶¶ 7-8) Dr. Stancofski is a member of Beebe's Credentials Committee. (Id. at ¶ 30(m)) In 2005, Dr. Stancofski was medical director of SDSC and a principal of Cape Surgical, a private practice. (Id. at ¶¶ 4, 42)

By 2005, DVPS had matured into a reputable and successful practice. (Id. at ¶ 14) In February 2005, Dr. Villare sought a medical staff appointment at SDSC. (Id. at ¶ 40) Dr. Villare did not receive communications regarding this application until October 2005. (Id. at ¶ 42)

Dr. Villare's surgical privileges were set to expire at Beebe on July 30, 2005. (Id. at ¶ 16) The reapplication process at Beebe is generally covered by its bylaws, more specifically, the "Medical Staff Policy on Appointment at Beebe" (the "Appointment Policy"). (Id. at ¶¶ 17-18) Dr. Villare alleges delays in receiving his application for reappointment in violation of the Appointment Policy, but ultimately submitted his application on June 7, 2005. (Id. at ¶¶ 21-27) Receipt was acknowledged on June 20, 2005, and Beebe thereafter sought additional information not previously provided by Dr. Villare in connection with his prior reappointments, for example, "documentation/evidence that will allow the organization to evaluate your clinical competence to perform" several procedures. (Id. at ¶¶ 29-30) Dr. Villare's appointment was extended through the October 2005 Board of Directors' meeting. (Id. at ¶ 30)

Although Dr. Villare responded to the request for information, he was told by Dr. Stancofski that the Credentials Committee had not received his submissions. (Id.) Dr. Villare, believing that no prior applicants had been subjected to the type and extent of requests for information propounded upon him by Beebe, filed a lawsuit against Beebe in the Delaware Superior Court in New Castle County on October 4, 2005, wherein Dr. Villare alleged breach of contract. (Id. at ¶¶ 31-32) Dr. Villare was informed by letter dated October 24, 2005 that his application for reappointment was denied based upon: "(1) insufficient evidence of continued clinical competence; and (2) the evaluative bodies' inability to determine the precise privileges [he was] requesting." (Id. at ¶ 33)

Dr. Villare stated his request to appeal the denial of his reappointment in a memorandum dated October 27, 2005, wherein he also requested clarification of the bases for Beebe's decision and an extension of his privileges. (Id. at ¶ 34) Dr. Villare's request to extend his privileges was denied by letter dated October 31, 2005 and his privileges expired November 1, 2005. (Id. at ¶¶ 35-36) Dr. Villare also received a letter from SDSC, dated October 31, 2005, requesting: "(1) a written statement that Dr. Villare `had no claims/settlements filed against [him] (closed or pending)'; and (2) additional documentation of his laparoscopic training." (Id. at ¶ 42) Dr. Villare alleges that this request for information was outside of SDSC's standard credentialing application, not typically requested of SDSC's applicants, and nearly impossible to satisfy. (Id. at ¶¶ 45-47)

Dr. Villare received a letter acknowledging his appeal, dated December 15, 2005, which provided a list of proposed panel members pursuant to the Appointments Policy. (Id. at ¶ 37) Dr. Villare asserts that Beebe "failed to schedule a hearing date or provide the addresses of the proposed panel members as is required by Section 4B.03" of that Policy. (Id.) The list again was provided to Dr. Villare on January 10, 2006 but, again, no date or addresses were provided. (Id. at ¶ 38)

Dr. Stancofski informed Dr. Villare by letter dated December 9, 2005 that his application for privileges at SDSC was denied "because [Dr. Villare] did not have privileges at a hospital within 50 miles of SDSC as required by its bylaws." (Id. at ¶ 53) Dr. Villare alleges that Dr. Stancofski (a member of Beebe's Credentials Committee) knew on October 31, 2005 that Beebe denied Dr. Villare's application, and that Dr. Stancofski and SDSC intentionally delayed taking action with respect to Dr. Villare's application so that SDSC's decision would not be made until Dr. Villare's appointment at Beebe had expired. (Id. at ¶¶ 44, 51-52, 127)

Ultimately, Dr. Villare was forced to close DVPS because of the termination of his privileges at Beebe. (Id. at ¶ 39) In addition to Dr. Villare, DVPS formerly had a cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Mudiwa Munyiksa, M.D. in its employ. Dr. Munyiksa signed a four-year contract with DVPS in 2004. (Id. at ¶¶ 80-81) Plaintiffs assert that, in the summer of 2006, Dr. Stancofski and Cape Surgical approached Dr. Munyiksa "so as to induce him to leave the employ of [DVPS] to become a full-time employee of Cape Surgical." (Id. at ¶ 83) Dr. Munyiksa was hired by Cape Surgical on September 5, 2006. (Id. at ¶ 87) DVPS, having no physicians with privileges at Beebe, closed thereafter. (Id. at ¶ 132)

III. STANDARD

In reviewing a motion filed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the court must accept all factual allegations in a complaint as true and take them in the light most favorable to plaintiff. See Christopher v. Harbury, 536 U.S. 403, 406, 122 S.Ct. 2179, 153 L.Ed.2d 413 (2002). A complaint must contain "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief, in order to give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 554-55, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (internal quotations omitted). A complaint does not need detailed factual allegations; however, "a plaintiffs obligation to provide the `grounds' of his `entitle[ment] to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.'" Id. (alteration in original) (citation omitted). The "[f]actual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level on the assumption that all of the complaint's allegations are true." Id.

The Supreme Court's Twombly formulation of the pleading standard can be summed up thus: "[S]tating ... a claim requires a complaint with enough factual matter (taken as true) to suggest" the required element. This "does not impose a probability requirement at the pleading stage," but instead "simply calls for enough facts to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of" the necessary element.

Phillips v. County of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 234 (3d Cir.2008) (citations omitted). Because plaintiff proceeds pro se, his pleading is liberally construed and his complaint, "however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers." Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976) (...