Juan R. Sánchez, J.
Plaintiffs CardioNet, LLC and Braemar Manufacturing, LLC (collectively, CardioNet) ask this Court to find Defendant MedTel24, Inc. (MedTel) in contempt of the January 31, 2014, Consent Judgment by which the parties agreed to resolve this patent infringement action and to impose appropriate contempt sanctions. CardioNet also asks the Court to impose sanctions on MedTel and its counsel for making false statements and frivolous arguments in its motions for relief from, and to stay enforcement of, the Consent Judgment, which this Court denied on July 22, 2015. This Court heard argument on the motions on May 7, 2015, and held a contempt hearing on September 21 and 29, 2015. On October 2, 2015, the Court issued an Order finding MedTel in contempt of ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment and directing MedTel to comply with its obligations under that provision within 21 days. The Court reserved ruling on whether MedTel is also in contempt of ¶¶ 14 and 19 of the Consent Judgment and CardioNet's request for damages. The Court issues this Memorandum to address these issues as well as CardioNet's motion for sanctions.
Upon consideration of the arguments and evidence presented by the parties in their written submissions, at the oral argument, and at the contempt hearing, and for the reasons set forth below, the Court finds CardioNet has proved by clear and convincing evidence that MedTel is in contempt of ¶ 14 as well as ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment, and will award CardioNet damages for lost profits and attorneys' fees and costs as set forth herein. CardioNet's motion for sanctions will be denied.
In the underlying patent infringement action, CardioNet sued Mednet Healthcare Technologies (Mednet), three companies affiliated with Mednet,
MedTel is in the business of "remote cardiac monitoring." MedTel's Opp'n to Pls.' Contempt Mot. 2. Prior to the entry of the Consent Judgment, MedTel's business included selling Heartrak ECAT devices (Monitors and Communicators) to physicians and providing monitoring services for those devices.
On January 31, 2014, days before the February 3, 2014, trial date, the parties agreed to settle this action and presented this Court with a fully executed Consent Judgment, which the Court signed the same day. In ¶ 13 of the Consent Judgment, the parties agreed "[m]aking, using, offering to sell or selling in the United States of the accused Heartrak ECAT System, including (i) a Heartrak ECAT Monitor, (ii) a Heartrak ECAT Communicator; and (iii) CardioStation or eCardiostation software infringes [the five CardioNet patents at issue in the case]."
Id. ¶ 19.
After the Consent Judgment was entered, MedTel continued to sell Heartrak ECAT devices to physicians to some extent
During the one-year license period, MedTel also contracted with a software engineering firm in Israel to advise the company on "how to build [its] own software" and/or to modify or enhance the CardioStation software. Id. at 271; see also Alima Dep. 115 (explaining MedTel hired the Israeli company to find an alternative to the CardioStation software for MedTel's monitoring). In connection with the Israeli company's work for MedTel, MedTel gave the company access to its system, including the CardioStation software, and the
On January 30, 2015, the day before the one-year license period was to expire, MedTel, having failed to obtain an extension of the license period, filed a motion for relief from the Consent Judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), asserting the Judgment should be set aside because MedTel was not represented by counsel when the Judgment was entered, accepted the Judgment under duress, and was precluded from presenting a full and fair defense at trial due to its counsel's failure to timely disclose a conflict of interest. The same day, MedTel commenced an arbitration against CardioNet, as UMI's successor and/or assignee under the License Agreement, based on CardioNet's alleged breaches of the License Agreement.
MedTel thereafter filed a motion to stay enforcement of the Consent Judgment pending resolution of its motion for relief
At the contempt hearing, MedTel conceded that while it had not sold any Heartrak ECAT devices following the expiration of the one-year license period on January 31, 2015, it continued to provide monitoring services for previously sold devices using CardioStation software. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 118, 124-26, 155, 230. MedTel provided these monitoring services pursuant to the same monitoring services agreements it entered with the physicians when they purchased the Heartrak ECAT devices. See id. at 118. Indeed, MedTel admitted it was doing nothing different with respect to the provision of monitoring services for Heartrak ECAT devices at the time of the hearing from what it was doing before the Consent Judgment was entered. See id. at 125. Between February 1, 2015, and August 15, 2015, MedTel billed physicians for 2,658 ECAT monitoring sessions. See Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-14.
MedTel also admitted it continued to possess multiple copies of the CardioStation software, id. at 126-28; see also id. at 137; Alima Dep. 18, and may have given a damaged ECAT Monitor to its counsel for safekeeping, see Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 129-30. It is undisputed that, as of the date of the contempt hearing, MedTel had not delivered these materials, or any documentation it possessed regarding the Heartrak ECAT System, to CardioNet. Id. at 31, 125-26, 128. In fact, MedTel admitted it had no intention of stopping its ongoing
On October 2, 2015, this Court issued an Order finding MedTel in contempt of ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment and directing MedTel to comply with its obligations under that paragraph by delivering the materials specified therein, including all software, source code, and documentation related to the Heartrak ECAT System, to CardioNet within 21 days.
District courts "have inherent power to enforce compliance with their lawful orders through civil contempt." Shillitani v. United States, 384 U.S. 364, 370, 86 S.Ct. 1531, 16 L.Ed.2d 622 (1966). A consent judgment, "although negotiated by the parties, is a judicial act" enforceable by exercise of "the powers by which a court protects its judgments, including most notably the power of contempt." Interdynamics, Inc. v. Firma Wolf, 653 F.2d 93, 96-97 (3d Cir.1981). In this case, moreover, the Consent Judgment explicitly provides that this Court "shall retain continuing jurisdiction over this action for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Consent Judgment." Consent J. ¶ 22.
To prove civil contempt, a movant must establish, by clear and convincing evidence, "(1) that a valid order of the court existed; (2) that the defendant[] had knowledge of the order; and (3) that the defendant[] disobeyed the order." Marshak v. Treadwell, 595 F.3d 478, 485 (3d Cir.2009) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also John T. ex rel. Paul T. v. Del. Cnty. Intermediate Unit, 318 F.3d 545, 552 (3d Cir.2003).
For purposes of enforcement, a court must interpret a consent judgment
The first two contempt elements are easily satisfied here. The Consent Judgment, which this Court signed on January 31, 2014, is a valid court order. Although MedTel sought relief from the Consent Judgment via a Rule 60(b) motion, the Court denied MedTel's motion. The pendency of MedTel's appeal of that ruling does not affect the validity of the Consent Judgment for purposes of this contempt proceeding. See Santibanez v. Wier McMahon & Co., 105 F.3d 234, 238 (5th Cir.1997) (holding "[u]ntil [a] judgment has been properly stayed or superseded, the district court may enforce it through contempt sanctions" (first alteration in original) (citation omitted)). Moreover, MedTel admittedly had knowledge of the Consent Judgment. See, e.g., Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 124 (admission by Sanders that he reread the Consent Judgment in connection with MedTel's decision to stay in business after the expiration of the license period).
As to the third element, CardioNet argues MedTel has disobeyed the Consent Judgment in three ways. First, CardioNet argues MedTel has violated the permanent injunction against "infringing, contributorily infringing or inducing the infringement of the Patents in Suit" in ¶ 14 of the Consent Judgment because it has continued to use the Heartrak ECAT System by providing monitoring services for Heartrak ECAT devices. Second, CardioNet argues MedTel has violated ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment by continuing to possess multiple copies of the CardioStation software and at least some source code for the software, which it was required to deliver to CardioNet in February 2015. Third, CardioNet maintains MedTel violated ¶ 19 of the Consent Judgment by giving a third party access to CardioStation software and source code on MedTel's server without first obtaining CardioNet's written permission.
In ¶ 14 of the Consent Judgment, MedTel agreed to be permanently enjoined from infringing the Patents in Suit, a term defined in ¶ 13 to include "using... the accused Heartrak ECAT System, including (i) a Heartrak ECAT Monitor; (ii) a Heartrak ECAT Communicator; and (iii) CardioStation or eCardiostation software." It is undisputed that, as of the time of the contempt hearing, MedTel continued to use the CardioStation software to provide monitoring services for Heartrak ECAT devices it previously sold, just as it did before the Consent Judgment was entered. The question is whether the provision of such services constitutes use of the Heartrak ECAT System and thus infringement of the Patents in Suit enjoined by ¶ 14.
MedTel argues because ¶ 13 defines the Heartrak ECAT System as including three parts — a Monitor, a Communicator, and software — MedTel must use all three parts to be using the System. MedTel maintains it uses only one part of the System — the CardioStation software — to provide monitoring services, while the remaining parts — the Monitors and Communicators — are used only by the physicians, who purchased those items from CardioNet, and their patients. In MedTel's view, because it does not use the Monitors or Communicators to provide monitoring services, the provision of such services does not constitute using the Heartrak ECAT System within the meaning of ¶ 13 and thus does not violate the injunction against infringing the Patents in Suit in ¶ 14.
CardioNet does not dispute the premise of MedTel's argument — that a party must use all three elements of the Heartrak ECAT System in order to use the System. Rather, CardioNet takes issue with MedTel's contention that it does not use the
The Court agrees with CardioNet that MedTel's provision of monitoring services for Heartrak ECAT devices constitutes using the Heartrak ECAT System within the meaning of the Consent Judgment. The parties agree the term "use" should be interpreted according to its "plain meaning."
At the contempt hearing, Mr. Capper testified the Consent Judgment was intended to give MedTel a "one-year grace period" in which find a "replacement platform" it could use in lieu of the Heartrak ECAT System. Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 57. Upon expiration of the one-year period, however, MedTel would no longer be able "monitor[] patients in the MCT [mobile cardiac telemetry] business unless [it] ha[d] a replacement system or ... [could] negotiate some sort of an extension with [CardioNet]." Id.
Mr. Sanders professed to have a different understanding, stating he interpreted the Consent Judgment to require MedTel to stop distributing ECAT devices, which amounted to selling the Heartrak ECAT System, but to permit MedTel to continue providing monitoring services for devices it had previously sold.
In a December 8, 2014, email to Mr. Capper, for example, Mr. Sanders requested a 120-day extension of the license period so as "to allow the doctors and Medtel24 until June 1, 2015, to continue to use said [ECAT] devices as we presently are doing." Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-7 (emphasis added). At the time Mr. Sanders sent the December 8, 2014, email, MedTel had already stopped selling Heartrak ECAT devices, see Sanders Aff. ¶ 2, ECF No. 307 (stating "Medtel sold its last Heartrak ECAT Monitor on October 31, 2014"); Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-7 ("Medtel24, as such, does not presently own any devices."), and was seeking an extension so that MedTel and its customers could continue to use devices MedTel had previously sold, for which MedTel was providing monitoring services, see Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 142. The email thus implicitly acknowledges both that MedTel was using the previously sold devices to provide monitoring services and that it knew could not continue to do so after the expiration of the one-year license period unless it obtained an extension from CardioNet.
Approximately six weeks later, on January 20, 2015, Mr. Sanders made a further request for a 120-day extension, explaining that, as he had told Mr. Capper around the time the Consent Judgment was entered, MedTel "could not be possibly ready to develop a new product within the one year that Cardionet was offering," and one year was "not enough time to complete the transfer of the many accounts to new technology." Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-10, at 1-2. Contrary to Mr. Sanders's self-serving hearing testimony that he understood the Consent Judgment to permit MedTel to continue providing monitoring services for previously sold devices, the email establishes just the opposite — that MedTel knew it would have to transfer its ECAT customers to "new technology" in order to continue monitoring after the license period.
When asked about the emails at the contempt hearing, Mr. Sanders stated he wanted an extension so as to be able to sell more ECAT devices. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 180-81, 275-76. The emails, however, make no reference to sales. To the contrary, the December 8, 2014, email characterizes the expiration of the license period as the "deadline for the use of ECAT devices" and states the purpose of the extension is to permit the continued use of previously sold ECAT devices. Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-7 (emphasis added); see also id. (stating an extension "will accommodate the current physicians," i.e., physicians already receiving monitoring services from MedTel).
In addition to arguing the provision of monitoring services for ECAT devices does not constitute infringement of the Patents in Suit based on the plain language of the Consent Judgment, MedTel also raises patent law defenses to the asserted ¶ 14 violation based on patent exhaustion and divided infringement. Neither has merit.
Under the doctrine of patent exhaustion, "the initial authorized sale of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item," where the sale was authorized by the patent holder. Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Elecs., Inc., 553 U.S. 617, 625, 636, 128 S.Ct. 2109, 170 L.Ed.2d 996 (2008). MedTel argues patent exhaustion "prevents Plaintiffs from reaching the third party authorized doctor purchasers who use their Monitors and Communicators" because CardioNet allegedly authorized MedTel's sales of the devices to the doctors either under the License Agreement, which CardioNet assumed following its acquisition of Mednet/UMI, or under
MedTel's divided infringement defense fails for similar reasons. MedTel raised the issue of divided infringement in a notice of supplemental authority filed in July 2015, in which it alerted the Court, without elaboration, to the Federal Circuit's May 2015 decision in Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., 786 F.3d 899 (Fed.Cir.2015). In August 2015, the Federal Circuit granted rehearing en banc in the Akamai case, vacated the panel opinion, and issued an en banc opinion in its place. In the en banc opinion, the Federal Circuit took the opportunity to "unanimously set forth the law of divided infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(a)." Akamai Techs., Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., 797 F.3d 1020, 1022 (Fed.Cir.2015) (en banc). The court reaffirmed that direct infringement of a method patent occurs "where all steps of the claimed method are performed or attributable to a single entity" and held method steps performed by others may be attributable to an entity "in two sets of circumstances: (1) where that entity directs or controls others' performance, and (2) where the actors form a joint enterprise." Id. As to the former method of attribution, the court clarified an entity will be liable for infringement "if it acts through an agent (applying traditional agency principles) or contracts with another to perform one or more steps of a claimed method," or if the entity "conditions participation in an activity or receipt of a benefit upon performance of a step or steps of a patented method and establishes the manner or timing of that performance." Id. at 1023. MedTel argues that, under Akamai, it cannot be infringing CardioNet's patents because the Patents in Suit are method patents and any infringement is divided between MedTel and the third-party physicians who own and use the Monitors and Communicators.
MedTel's Akamai defense calls for an analysis of how and by whom the steps of individual method claims in the Patents in Suit are performed. In this Court's view, the Consent Judgment forecloses this analysis in relation to the Heartrak ECAT System. As set forth above, the Consent Judgment adjudicates with finality that using the Heartrak ECAT System infringes the Patents in Suit. See Consent J. ¶¶ 13, 17. The infringement question, for purposes of this contempt proceeding, is therefore limited to whether MedTel's provision
As set forth above, the Court finds CardioNet has satisfied its burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence that MedTel has used the Heartrak ECAT System by continuing to provide monitoring services for Heartrak ECAT devices using the CardioStation software. Accordingly, the Court finds MedTel has violated ¶ 14 of the Consent Judgment.
Paragraph 16 of the Consent Judgment grants MedTel and the other customer Defendants "a limited, non-exclusive license to make, use, sell or offer for sale, the Heartrak ECAT System in the United States for a period one (1) year from the date of this Consent Judgment," but provides
Consent J. ¶ 16 (emphasis added). As the Consent Judgment was entered on January 31, 2014, the "one year date" of the Judgment was January 31, 2015, and MedTel was therefore required to deliver the materials specified in ¶ 16 for receipt by CardioNet no later than February 15, 2015. Based on undisputed evidence that MedTel continued to possess multiple copies of the CardioStation software at the time of the contempt hearing, on October 2, 2015, this Court issued an Order finding MedTel in contempt of ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment, rejecting MedTel's argument that it was not required to deliver the software to CardioNet because it did not hold the software for sale to customers and thus had no "inventories" of the software.
Apart from its "inventory" argument, which this Court has already rejected for the reasons set forth in the October 2, 2015, Order, MedTel maintains ¶ 16 cannot be understood to require it to give up the CardioStation software because the software has noninfringing applications in connection with the Heartrak Smart Wireless device. MedTel argues that if interpreted in the manner advocated by CardioNet, the Consent Judgment would effect an antitrust violation and amount to patent misuse. The doctrine of patent misuse provides a defense to patent infringement when the patentee has used restrictive conditions on licenses or sales to broaden "the physical or temporal scope of the patent grant with anticompetitive effect." Princo Corp. v. Int'l Trade Comm'n, 616 F.3d 1318, 1328 (Fed.Cir. 2010) (en banc) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). The doctrine applies where, for example, the patentee "requir[es] the purchase of an unpatented product as a condition for obtaining a license
For this reason, in addition to the reasons set forth in the October 2, 2015, Order, the Court reaffirms its earlier finding that MedTel has violated ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment.
Paragraph 19 of the Consent Judgment provides:
Consent J. ¶ 19. CardioNet argues MedTel violated this provision by giving the Israeli company MedTel hired to advise it on how to build its own software access to the CardioStation software and source code on MedTel's system.
MedTel does not dispute that the CardioStation software and at least some of the source code for the software were disclosed or made available to the Israeli company in connection with its work for MedTel.
Taking the latter argument first, the Court disagrees that MedTel's disclosures to the Israeli company were made within the scope of its conventional activities as a monitoring service provider. In providing monitoring services, MedTel receives patient cardiac data collected by a Heartrak ECAT Monitor, processes and analyzes the data using the CardioStation software, and provides a report to the patient's physician. Paragraph 19 thus allows MedTel to disclose Heartrak ECAT System-related materials to third parties as necessary to support these activities. According to Mr. Alima, however, the Israeli company was hired not to support MedTel's ordinary monitoring services but to find an alternative to the CardioStation software. See Alima
Whether the Israeli company is a "third party" for purposes of the Consent Judgment is a closer question. In arguing the company is not a third party, MedTel relies on ¶ 14(b), which provides that, as used in the Consent Judgment,
Consent J. ¶ 14(b) (emphasis added). MedTel argues because the Israeli company was MedTel's agent, and was acting "in concert, participation or privity" with MedTel, the company was part of "MedTel24" under ¶ 14(b) of the Consent Judgment and thus could not have been a third party for purposes of ¶ 19.
MedTel's interpretation of the term "third party" as excluding persons and entities encompassed within the definitions of the Defendant entities in ¶ 14 is plausible, and insofar as CardioNet advocates a different interpretation, the Court must resolve this ambiguity in favor of MedTel. See Robin Woods Inc., 28 F.3d at 399 (noting the "longstanding salutary rule in contempt cases that ambiguities and omissions in orders redound to the benefit of the person charged with contempt" (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)); accord John T. ex rel. Paul T., 318 F.3d at 552. Whether MedTel violated ¶ 19 by disclosing the software and source code to the Israeli company thus depends on whether the company comes within the broad definition of "MedTel24" in ¶ 14(b). At the contempt hearing, the Court expressed considerable doubt as to whether the Israeli company was in fact MedTel's agent, a legal term of art that, under Pennsylvania law, requires "[1] the manifestation by the principal that the agent shall act for him, [2] the agent's acceptance of the undertaking and [3] the understanding of the parties that the principal is to be in control of the undertaking." Basile v. H & R Block, Inc., 563 Pa. 359, 761 A.2d 1115, 1120 (2000) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted); see also id. (noting agency "results only if there is an agreement for the creation of a fiduciary relationship with control by the beneficiary" (citation omitted)). The existing record does not permit the Court to determine whether an agency relationship existed between MedTel and the Israeli company. Regardless of whether the company is part of MedTel by virtue of an agency relationship, the definition in ¶ 14(b) also encompasses "all other persons acting in concert, participation or privity with" MedTel and its officers and employees. Because the Israeli company arguably falls within this broad language, and mindful that contempt is inappropriate "where there is ground to doubt the wrongfulness of the conduct" at
Upon finding MedTel in contempt of ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment in the October 2, 2015, Order, this Court directed MedTel to comply with its obligations under that provision within 21 days, and directed Mr. Sanders to submit a sworn declaration of compliance within the same 21-day period. The Court also provided for the imposition of a coercive sanction of $10,000 per day on MedTel and Mr. Sanders for each day they remained out of compliance beyond the 21-day period. In addition to seeking compliance with the Consent Judgment and coercive sanctions, CardioNet also seeks damages for MedTel's violations of ¶¶ 14 and 16 of the Consent Judgment. Having previously reserved ruling on CardioNet's request for damages, the Court addresses that issue herein.
Damages are available in civil contempt proceedings "to compensate for losses sustained by the [contemnor's] disobedience." Robin Woods Inc., 28 F.3d at 400. A compensatory award seeks "to make reparation to the injured party and restore the parties to the position they would have held had the injunction been obeyed." Id. (citation omitted). Contempt damages "must not exceed the actual damages caused the offended party by a violation of the court's order." Quinter v. Volkswagen of Am., 676 F.2d 969, 975 (3d Cir. 1982). Such damages may include an award of attorneys' fees incurred in connection with the contempt proceedings, as "[o]nly with an award of attorneys' fees can [the injured party] be restored to the position it would have occupied had [the contemnor] complied with the [court order in question]." Robin Woods Inc., 28 F.3d at 400; see also Quinter, 676 F.2d at 975 (noting the relief granted in civil contempt proceedings "usually takes the form of a fine in the amount of the damages sustained by petitioner and an award of costs and attorney's fees").
Although contempt must be established by clear and convincing evidence, the applicable burden of proof for contempt damages is not settled in the Third Circuit. See Synthes Spine Co. v. Walden, No. 03-4140, 2006 WL 3053317, at *12 (E.D.Pa. Oct. 23, 2006). The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has not squarely addressed the issue.
CardioNet seeks to recover three categories of damages: (1) lost profits, (2) direct expenses, and (3) attorneys' fees and costs. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 65, 80-81.
As to lost profits, CardioNet seeks to recover profits it contends it would have earned had MedTel complied with its obligations under ¶¶ 14 and 16 of the Consent Judgment and ceased providing monitoring services for Heartrak ECAT devices following the expiration of the one-year license period on January 31, 2015.
To calculate lost profits, CardioNet first determined the company's lost monitoring revenue during the contempt period by calculating its average revenue per monitoring session during that period and multiplying that figure by the total number of monitoring sessions MedTel completed after January 31, 2015. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 65. CardioNet then reduced the lost monitoring revenue figure to account for the cost of providing monitoring services by multiplying the revenue figure by the company's incremental profit margin. See id.
To calculate its average revenue per monitoring session during the contempt period, CardioNet determined its total MCT revenue for the period from February 1, 2015, through August 31, 2015 ($53,433,095) and divided this figure by the number of monitoring sessions it completed during this period (64,341), resulting in an average revenue figure of $830 per
CardioNet determined the total number of monitoring sessions completed by MedTel during the contempt period by reviewing MedTel's billing records, which reflect that between February 1, 2015, and August 15, 2015, MedTel completed a total of 2,658 ECAT monitoring sessions. See Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-14.
Finally, CardioNet calculated its profit margin on MCT monitoring by identifying eight categories of costs by which the MCT monitoring revenue figure should be reduced
Multiplying CardioNet's average revenue per monitoring session ($830) by the total number of monitoring sessions completed by MedTel between February 1, 2015, and August 15, 2015 (2,658) by CardioNet's incremental profit margin (61.76%) yields total lost profits of $1,362,512.06 for this portion of the contempt period.
MedTel takes issue with CardioNet's lost profits calculation, arguing CardioNet has failed to satisfy its burden to prove MedTel's violations of the Consent Judgment caused CardioNet's claimed losses. Specifically, MedTel argues CardioNet has not shown that, had MedTel complied with the Consent Judgment, (1) CardioNet would have converted 100% of MedTel's customers to CardioNet's monitoring services, and (2) most of the converted customers would have switched to the traditional model, as CardioNet's lost profits calculation assumes. MedTel focuses in particular on the lack of any evidence from actual MedTel customers who would be
The Court agrees with MedTel that the evidence falls short of establishing CardioNet would more likely than not have realized its proffered 100% conversion rate. At the contempt hearing, Mr. Capper testified CardioNet had the capacity to serve all of MedTel's customers during the contempt period and stated that, in his view, it was "highly likely" CardioNet would have converted most, if not all, of these customers to "a CardioNet offering" because CardioNet is "the only company that actually could give them some continuity in terms of what they're used to, what the reports that they're used to looking at, the systems that they're used to using, the device that they're used to using." Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 66-67, 69-70. Mr. Capper also testified, however, that CardioNet's market share of the telemetry market is approximately 50%, Contempt Hr'g Tr. II 7-8, with MedTel and an unspecified number of other companies making up the remaining 50%. Although the Court credits Mr. Capper's unrebutted testimony that CardioNet could provide MedTel's customers with services most similar to those they had been receiving from MedTel, the Court is not persuaded this factor alone would have produced a 100% conversion rate. Rather, the Court finds this factor would have been a source of advantage for CardioNet in the telemetry market. Given this advantage, the Court finds it is more likely than not that CardioNet would have converted MedTel's customers at least in proportion to its 50% market share.
The Court also finds CardioNet has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that most of the converted customers would have switched to the traditional model, as CardioNet's lost profits calculation assumes. At the contempt hearing, both Mr. Sanders and Mr. Capper explained that the physician purchase model arose in recent years in response to a change in Medicare regulations. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 220; Contempt Hr'g Tr. II 6. Although the physician purchase model offers the possibility of greater monitoring revenue for physicians, Mr. Capper testified the model also has a number of disadvantages, including the outlay of capital a physician must make to purchase the devices and the various risks the physician must assume under the model, such as the risk of maintenance and loss of the devices and the risks associated with negotiating with, billing, and collecting from insurance companies. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. II 9-10. While CardioNet offers both the traditional and the physician purchase model to customers, most of its business (and most of the market) operates under the traditional model. See id. at 5, 7, 10. Indeed, Mr. Capper stated demand for the physician purchase model appears to be waning and most of CardioNet's own physician purchase model business "is now flipping back to the traditional model." Id. at 10-11. Mr. Capper acknowledged CardioNet was offering several options to customers who want to convert, including, in some cases, temporary pricing at $349 per monitoring session under the physician purchase model. Id. at 22-23. Given all of the foregoing considerations, however, he opined that most of the customers converting to CardioNet would opt for the traditional model. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 98; see also Contempt Hr'g Tr. II 12 (opining MedTel's customers would have opted to switch from the physician purchase model to the traditional model "[f]or the same reason that everybody else is switching back[:] [t]hey're not — just not making money"). The Court finds Mr. Capper's testimony credible on these points and therefore finds it is more likely than not
Mindful that damages need be proved only "to a reasonable degree of certainty," and not with "absolute precision," Berg Chilling Sys., Inc. v. Hull Corp., 369 F.3d 745, 764 (3d Cir.2004) (internal citations omitted), the Court will award CardioNet lost profits on 50% of the ECAT monitoring sessions completed by MedTel during the contempt period.
The second category of damages CardioNet seeks consists of certain direct expenses CardioNet paid on MedTel's behalf during the contempt period in its capacity as UMI's successor under the License Agreement. These expenses consist principally of amounts CardioNet paid for the AT&T wireless accounts associated with the Heartrak ECAT devices for which MedTel provided monitoring services. Although
MedTel objects to this category of damages on the basis that the propriety of the wireless charges is a subject of the pending arbitration and should be adjudicated in that forum. In the arbitration, MedTel alleges CardioNet breached the License Agreement by failing to transfer to MedTel the phone numbers associated with devices sold by MedTel, as requested in February 2014. MedTel argues that had the phone numbers been transferred, it could have obtained wireless service at substantially lower rates than those charged by CardioNet. MedTel seeks to recover amounts it allegedly overpaid CardioNet for the wireless accounts for the period from February 2014 through July 2014.
The Court agrees with MedTel that CardioNet's claim for unpaid invoices is best resolved in the arbitration. As MedTel notes, the propriety of the expenses CardioNet incurred to maintain the wireless accounts is directly at issue in the arbitration. If CardioNet had no obligation to transfer any phone numbers to MedTel, then CardioNet may be entitled to recover in full the cost of the wireless accounts during the contempt period. But if MedTel prevails on this claim, it may be entitled to a setoff in the amount CardioNet allegedly overcharged it. At the arbitration hearing, CardioNet conceded it would submit this claim for arbitration insofar as the claim concerns expenses incurred prior to February 1, 2015, but took the position the post-January 2015 expenses are properly the subject of this contempt proceeding. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 76-77. Because CardioNet's entitlement to damages depends in part on the arbitrators' ruling, the Court sees no reason why this claim should not be submitted to arbitration in its entirety.
Finally, CardioNet seeks to recover attorneys' fees and costs. CardioNet is unquestionably entitled to recover the fees incurred in prosecuting the instant contempt motion. As the Third Circuit has recognized, "the cost of bringing the violation to the attention of the court is part of the damages suffered by the prevailing party and those costs would reduce any benefits gained by the prevailing party from the court's violated order." Robin Woods Inc., 28 F.3d at 400 (quoting Cook v. Ochsner Found. Hosp., 559 F.2d 270, 272 (5th Cir.1977)). Indeed, as noted, it is "[o]nly with an award of attorneys' fees" that CardioNet can be "restored to the position it would have occupied" had MedTel
In addition to seeking fees associated with the proceedings on the contempt motion, CardioNet also asks the Court to award as contempt damages attorneys' fees incurred in litigating MedTel's motion for relief from the Consent Judgment and motion to stay enforcement of the Consent Judgment, and CardioNet's own motions to stay arbitration and for sanctions. CardioNet argues such fees are appropriately considered contempt damages because they reflect costs CardioNet has been forced to expend to enforce the Consent Judgment.
"[A]ttorneys' fee awards are `remedial and designed to compensate complainants for losses incurred as a result of the contemnor['s] violations.'" Id. at 401 (quoting Roe v. Operation Rescue, 919 F.2d 857, 869 (3d Cir.1990)). As such, an award of attorneys' fees in a contempt proceeding, "must not exceed the actual damages caused the offended party by a violation of the court's order." Quinter, 676 F.2d at 975. Although the time CardioNet has devoted to litigating MedTel's Rule 60(b) and stay motions is part of CardioNet's effort to enforce the Consent Judgment, these motions do not themselves violate the Consent Judgment, and the fees associated with those motions thus may not be awarded as contempt damages. See Inst. for Motivational Living, Inc. v. Doulos Inst. for Strategic Consulting, Inc., 110 Fed.Appx. 283, 289 (3d Cir.2004) (reversing an award of attorneys' fees as contempt damages based on the district court's failure to determine which fees related specifically to the defendant's contemptuous conduct, as opposed to his other vexatious post-settlement litigation conduct). The Court will therefore award CardioNet reasonable attorneys' fees and costs associated with the contempt proceedings only in an amount to be determined by the Court following submission of an appropriate fee petition. CardioNet shall have 14 days from the date of this Memorandum to file a petition for attorneys' fees, and MedTel shall thereafter have 14 days to submit a response to the petition.
CardioNet also moves for sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, 28 U.S.C. § 1927, and the Court's inherent power against MedTel and its counsel for making misrepresentations and frivolous arguments in its motions for relief from the Consent Judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) and to stay enforcement of the Consent Judgment, both of which this Court denied in July 2015.
Rule 11(b) provides, in relevant part, that
Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b). A court may sanction "any attorney, law firm, or party that violated [Rule 11(b)] or is responsible for the violation," after providing notice and a reasonable
Section 1927 permits a court to sanction an attorney for "multipl[ying] the proceedings in any case unreasonably and vexatiously" by requiring the attorney "to satisfy personally the excess costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees reasonably incurred because of such conduct." 28 U.S.C. § 1927. To impose sanctions under § 1927, a court must find "an attorney has (1) multiplied proceedings; (2) in an unreasonable and vexatious manner; (3) thereby increasing the cost of the proceedings; and (4) doing so in bad faith or by intentional misconduct." In re Schaefer Salt Recovery, Inc., 542 F.3d 90, 101 (3d Cir.2008) (citation omitted). Sanctions may not be imposed under § 1927 for conduct resulting from "misunderstanding, bad judgment, or well-intentioned zeal." Grider v. Keystone Health Plan Cent., Inc., 580 F.3d 119, 142 (3d Cir.2009) (citation omitted). Rather, a finding of "willful bad faith on the part of the offending lawyer" is required. In re Prudential Ins. Co. Am. Sales Practice Litig. Agent Actions, 278 F.3d 175, 181 (3d Cir.2002) (citation omitted); see also Grider, 580 F.3d at 142 ("[U]nder § 1927, an attorney's conduct must be of an egregious nature, stamped by bad faith that is violative of recognized standards in the conduct of litigation." (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). The party seeking sanctions "must show by clear and convincing evidence that sanctions are warranted." Marino v. Usher, No. 11-6811, 2014 WL 2116114, at *6 (E.D.Pa. May 21, 2014).
CardioNet argues MedTel and its counsel should be sanctioned under Rule 11 for filing the Rule 60(b) motion because the motion was predicated on the misrepresentation that MedTel was not represented by counsel when the Consent Judgment was entered.
MedTel maintained that notwithstanding the evidence cited by CardioNet to the contrary, it was not represented (or not adequately represented) at the time the Consent Judgment entered. As to Mr. Leace, who made an oral motion the week before trial for RatnerPrestia to withdraw
In denying MedTel's Rule 60(b) motion, this Court rejected MedTel's position for the reasons set forth in the Court's July 22, 2015, Memorandum. The Court, however, does not find MedTel's position was so patently unmeritorious or frivolous as to warrant Rule 11 sanctions.
CardioNet also argues sanctions should be imposed on MedTel's counsel under § 1927 and the Court's inherent authority for filing a baseless motion to stay enforcement of the Consent Judgment pending disposition of MedTel's Rule 60(b) motion or the arbitration it commenced under the License Agreement. CardioNet argues MedTel's contention that the Rule 60(b) motion had a likelihood of success on the merits was baseless in light of evidence to the contrary, its arguments that enforcing the Consent Judgment would harm the public interest were disingenuous, and its argument for a stay pending arbitration was illogical. While the Court agrees the motion to stay lacked merit, the Court does not find the motion was the product of the kind of willful bad faith necessary to support a sanctions award under § 1927 or the Court's inherent authority.
For the reasons set forth above, the Court finds MedTel in contempt of ¶ 14 as well as ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment. In addition to the relief granted in the Court's October 2, 2015, Order, CardioNet will be awarded (1) lost profit damages in the amount of $681,256.03, plus an amount to be determined upon the parties' submission of a joint stipulation regarding the number of ECAT monitoring sessions completed by MedTel during the period from August 16, 2015, until MedTel ceased providing ECAT monitoring services, and (2) reasonable attorneys' fees and costs incurred in prosecuting this contempt proceeding in an amount to be determined upon CardioNet's submission of an appropriate fee petition. CardioNet's motion for sanctions will be denied. An appropriate Order follows.
At some point in 2013 or 2014, MedTel requested Mednet/UMI to transfer the wireless accounts to MedTel, but Mednet/UMI and/or CardioNet failed to do so. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 184. Whether the failure to transfer the accounts constitutes a breach of the License Agreement is one of the issues raised by MedTel in the arbitration. See MedTel's Supplemental Statement of Claims & Relief Requested 5-6, ECF No. 360-3. On February 3, 2015, MedTel notified CardioNet it was suspending performance of its payment obligations under the License Agreement pending resolution of the arbitration. See Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-13. In addition, beginning as early as April 2015, MedTel began instructing its customers to replace the SIM cards in their devices so as to transition the devices to new wireless accounts controlled by MedTel. See Contempt Hr'g Tr. I 166. CardioNet nevertheless continued to maintain the AT&T wireless accounts associated with the Heartrak ECAT devices sold by MedTel until shortly after July 22, 2015, the date this Court denied MedTel's motion for relief from the Consent Judgment. See id. at 79-80.
"To prevail on an unclean hands defense, the defendant must show fraud, unconscionability, or bad faith on the part of the plaintiff." S & R Corp. v. Jiffy Lube Int'l, Inc., 968 F.2d 371, 377 n. 7 (3d Cir.1992). MedTel has failed to make the required showing here. For example, while MedTel accuses CardioNet of failing to honor an alleged oral agreement concerning an extension of the license period in the Consent Judgment, MedTel has failed to present evidence showing such an agreement existed or was violated. In emails to Mr. Capper in December 2014 and January 2015, Mr. Sanders claimed that in January 2014, before the Consent Judgment was executed, Mr. Capper had promised to give MedTel "some sort of extension." Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-7; see also Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-10. MedTel presented no evidence at the contempt hearing about what, exactly, Mr. Capper allegedly agreed to, and Mr. Capper denied making any promises. See Pls.' Hr'g Ex. PX-8. Moreover, Mr. Capper eventually did offer MedTel an extension of the license period, the terms of which are not in the record, but MedTel did not accept the offer. Contempt Hr'g Tr. 64-65.
MedTel's allegations that CardioNet failed to provide MedTel with the source code for the CardioStation software likewise fall short of a showing of unclean hands. The record reflects that MedTel requested the source code from Mednet/UMI and Biotelemetry, Inc., CardioNet's parent company, in January and February 2014, but did not receive it. See Alima Aff. ¶ 3, ECF No. 308. Although MedTel's claim to the source code derives from the License Agreement, there is no evidence MedTel sought to enforce its rights under that Agreement until January 2015, when it commenced arbitration against CardioNet under the Agreement the day before the Consent Judgment's one-year license period was set to expire. Having taken no steps to enforce the Agreement for most of the duration of the one-year license period, when MedTel was actively looking to develop an alternative to CardioStation, MedTel cannot claim CardioNet's failure to disclose the source code eleven months earlier rises to the level of unclean hands. MedTel's remaining allegations of bad acts by CardioNet are little more than unsupported accusations.
As discussed in greater detail below and in the Court's October 2, 2015, Order, moreover, upon expiration of the one-year license period, ¶ 16 of the Consent Judgment requires MedTel to deliver to CardioNet "all inventories of the Heartrak ECAT System in the United States belonging to or held by Medtel24," including, specifically, the CardioStation software. By specifying that MedTel must relinquish the CardioStation software necessary for MedTel to conduct its conventional activities as a cardiac monitoring service provider, ¶ 16 makes clear that MedTel can no longer provide Heartrak ECAT cardiac monitoring services after the one-year license period.
This case is distinguishable from Synthes in two important respects. First, while CardioNet's damages model, like that of the Synthes plaintiff, is premised on a 100% correspondence between MedTel's contemptuous conduct and CardioNet's lost profits, CardioNet has provided evidentiary support for its damages calculation through the testimony of Mr. Capper. Second, unlike in Synthes, the record in this case is not devoid of evidence to support an award of lost profits short of the 100% mark. Rather, the evidence of CardioNet's share of the telemetry market provides a reasonable basis for this Court to calculate CardioNet's lost profits attributable to MedTel's violations of the Consent Judgment.