GORTON, District Judge.
Plaintiffs Scott A. Wilcox ("Wilcox"), Jaeckel et al. ("Jaeckel") and Palumbo et al. ("Palumbo") bring suit against Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Forest"). The cases have been consolidated into a multi-district litigation and assigned to this Session of this District Court for pre-trial motion practice and discovery.
On November 10, 2010, 751 F.Supp.2d 277, 2010 WL 4644429 (D.Mass.2010), the Court dismissed Wilcox's First Amended Complaint without prejudice for failure to plead facts demonstrating that his claims were not barred by the statute of limitations. Wilcox has since filed a Second Amended Complaint ("the SAC"). Before the Court is Forest's motion to dismiss the SAC as time-barred which Wilcox opposes.
To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to "state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). In considering the merits of a motion to dismiss, the Court may look only to the facts alleged in the pleadings, documents attached as exhibits or incorporated by reference in the complaint and matters of which judicial notice can be taken. Nollet v. Justices of the Trial Court of Mass., 83 F.Supp.2d 204, 208 (D.Mass.2000) aff'd, 248 F.3d 1127 (1st Cir.2000). Furthermore, the Court must accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Langadinos v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 199 F.3d 68, 69 (1st Cir.2000). If the facts in the complaint are sufficient to state a cause of action, a motion to dismiss the complaint must be denied. See Nollet, 83 F.Supp.2d at 208.
Although a court must accept as true all of the factual allegations contained in a complaint, that doctrine is not, however, applicable to legal conclusions. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, ___ U.S. ____, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). Threadbare recitals of the legal elements, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice to state a cause of action. Id. Accordingly, a complaint does not state a claim for relief where the well-pled facts fail to warrant an inference of any more than the mere possibility of misconduct. Id. at 1950.
In its November, 2010 M & O, the Court dismissed the Wilcox complaint without prejudice, stating that, in order for him to state a viable amended claim, he would have to allege that
Wilcox has subsequently alleged in his SAC that:
Forest has responded with a motion to dismiss in which it argues that 1) Wilcox does not allege that he reasonably did not discover the alleged misrepresentations until February, 2009 and 2) Wilcox reasonably should have discovered the alleged misrepresentations in or before February, 2005 by virtue of:
Wilcox opposes the motion to dismiss on the grounds that his delayed discovery of Forest's alleged misconduct was reasonable because 1) Wilcox did not suffer physical injury that would have triggered inquiry notice of the alleged misconduct, 2) he relied on his son's physician for information about Celexa and 3) there was no other factual information known to him that would trigger a duty to investigate the facts underlying his allegations. Wilcox also requests leave to amend further should the Court require additional allegations.
As stated in this Court's November, 2010 M & O, pursuant to the discovery rule, the plaintiff has the burden of pleading and proving that he reasonably did not discover the alleged misconduct until sometime within the statute of limitations period. Hobart v. Hobart Estate Co., 26 Cal.2d 412, 159 P.2d 958, 972 (1945). In a fraud case, the plaintiff is not expected to investigate any possible misconduct until he has "knowledge of facts sufficient to make a reasonably prudent person suspicious of fraud". Id. Once that duty to inquire is triggered, plaintiffs have a duty "to exercise diligence to discover the facts". Casualty Ins. Co. v. Rees Inv. Co., 14 Cal.App.3d 716, 92 Cal.Rptr. 857, 859 (1971). Determining the moment at which the running of the limitations period commences under the discovery rule (when the plaintiff reasonably should have discovered the alleged misconduct) is normally a question for the trier of fact. Romano v. Rockwell Int'l, 14 Cal.4th 479, 59 Cal.Rptr.2d 20, 926 P.2d 1114, 1118 (1996). It may be resolved by the Court, however, if the parties do not dispute the facts and only one conclusion may be drawn from them. Id.
Arguably, Wilcox was on inquiry notice before December, 2005, because at the time, the Celexa package insert alerted consumers about the conflicting research with respect to the use of Celexa by children and adolescents. Thus, Wilcox may have a difficult time persuading a jury that he reasonably could not have discovered the facts before December, 2005. There is room for debate, however, given that Wilcox's son had been taking Celexa for 19 months when the package insert was added and, as a practical matter, may not have read the label thereafter. Thus, although the parties do not dispute the facts, more than one conclusion can be drawn from them and the question is one of fact for the jury.
In accordance with the foregoing, the defendants' motion to dismiss the second amended Wilcox class action complaint (Docket No. 66) is