W. Star Hosp. Auth. v. McCaffrey

1

WESTERN STAR HOSPITAL AUTHORITY INC., trading and doing business as METRO HEALTH EMS, Plaintiff v. SUSAN MCCAFFREY, et al., Defendants

No. 1:21-cv-00524

United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania

March 23, 2022

MEMORANDUM

Kane Judge.

Plaintiff Western Star Hospital Authority, Inc., trading and doing business as Metro Health EMS (“Plaintiff), is an emergency medical response transportation company. (Doc. No 1.) It commenced this action on March 22, 2021, alleging that the thirteen named defendants (collectively “Defendants”) conspired to thwart, interfere with, and undermine a 2016 contract (“Contract”) between Plaintiff and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System (“VA”) because Plaintiff is owned and operated by an African American. (Id.) Plaintiff alleges that Defendants' conduct resulted in the VA's termination of the Contract in 2019. (Id.) Plaintiff maintains that “[b]ut for Defendants' racial animus, bias and prejudice in carrying out the acts, Plaintiffs contract with the VA would not have been terminated.” (Id ¶ 253.) By five separate motions, Defendants move to dismiss the claims against them. (Doc. Nos. 36-38, 52, 63.) The Court will grant the motions but also grant, in part leave to amend.

I. BACKGROUND^[1]

The allegations in Plaintiffs complaint span three years, beginning in March 2016, when the VA solicitated bids for a contract (the “Contract”) for the provision of ambulance and paramedic services for Pittsburgh and surrounding areas, and ending with the VA's termination of the Contract on March 21, 2019. Before turning to the events underlying Plaintiff's alleged claims, the Court sets forth the numerous parties to this action.

A. The Parties

1. Plaintiff

Plaintiff is an emergency transportation company that provides basic life support and advanced life support ambulatory services to the greater Pittsburgh area. (Id. ¶ 1.) “B. Lamont Doyle, Chief Operating Officer of Plaintiff Metro-Health EMS, is of African American descent, ” and, “[i]n that regard, Plaintiff is owned and operated by minorities.” (Id. ¶¶ 3-4.)

2. The VA Defendants

Plaintiff brings suit against five VA staff members (collectively, the “VA Defendants”): (1) Susan McCaffrey (“McCaffrey”), Vice President of Facilities Management; (2) Laura Baumgart (“Baumgart”), Executive Assistant to the Director of the VA; (3) Barbara Forsha (“Forsha”), Deputy Director of Healthcare for the VA; (4) Robert Schollaert (“Schollaert”), Supervisory Program Specialist; and (5) David Utter (“Utter”), Transportation and Fleet Operations Manager. (Id. ¶ 5-14.)

3. The UPMC Defendants

Defendant University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (“UPMC”) is a Pittsburgh-based healthcare provider and insurer that operates numerous hospitals in Pennsylvania. (Id. ¶¶ 16-18.) Defendant UPMC Medcall runs a program known as “‘Medcall a/k/a ‘PARC, '” an ambulance brokerage service for all UPMC-run facilities. (Id. ¶¶ 19-20.) Plaintiff refers to Defendants UPMC and UPMC Medcall collectively as “UPMC/PARC” throughout its complaint, and the Court will follow the same naming convention. UPMC/PARC receives incoming calls from patients in need of non-emergency transportation services and assigns the call to one of several Emergency Medical Technicians (“EMT”) companies with which it partners. (Id. ¶ 21.) Defendant Myron Rickens (“Rickens, ” and with UPMC/PARC, the “UPMC Defendants”) is UPMC's director, as well as a member of EMSW's board of directors. (Id. ¶¶ 56-57.)

4. Medevac Ambulance Service

Defendant Medevac Ambulance Service (“MAC”), a division of Pennsylvania Medical Transport, Inc., is an ambulance company owned by nonparty Edward Heltman. (Id. ¶¶ 22-23.) UPMC/PARC retained MAC to “perform services as staff/paramedics, ” and, in that capacity, at all times relevant to this action, MAC served as the staffing agent for VA hospitals in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. (Id. ¶¶ 24-25.)

5. The Commonwealth Defendants

Defendants Aaron Rhone (“Rhone”) and Travis Woodward (“Woodward, ” and with Rhone, the “Commonwealth Defendants”) are employees of the Pennsylvania Department of Health (“DOH”)'s Bureau of Emergency Medical Services (“BEMS”). (Id. ¶¶ 27, 29.) Rhone is BEMS' Emergency Medical System Services (“EMS”) Program Manager, and Woodyard is a BEMS' Program Specialist. (Id. ¶¶ 27, 29.) BEMS regulates Pennsylvania's EMS system, which was established pursuant to the Emergency Medical Services Systems Act (“EMSS Act”), 35 Pa. C.S.A. §§ 8101-8157. (Doc. No. 1 ¶ 37.) BEMS is responsible for, among other things, “licensing all EMS agencies and all prehospital care providers in the Commonwealth” (id. ¶ 31). It “achieves its central mission . . . through a number of statutorily mandated tasks, e.g., transportation and coordination.” (Id. ¶ 41.)

6. The EMSW Defendants

Defendants Brian Shaw (“Shaw”) and Amos Cameron (“Cameron, ” and with Shaw, the “EMSW Defendants”) are employed by Emergency Medical Services West (“EMSW”), one of several regional EMS councils employed by BEMS to carry out its regulatory functions pursuant to the EMSS Act. (Id. ¶¶ 38, 33.) Shaw is EMSW's Deputy Director, and Cameron is an EMSW inspector. (Id. ¶¶ 33, 36.) Regional councils such as EMSW “have been delegated public functions in the Commonwealth's EMS management” (id. ¶ 50) and “perform[] inspections and licensing, traditional government functions, ” pursuant to Commonwealth's EMS system (id. ¶ 52).

B. Allegations Underlying Plaintiff's Claims

Having set out the relevant parties to this action, the Court turns to the facts underlying Plaintiff's complaint. Plaintiff's allegations span roughly three periods of time: (1) allegations of conduct leading up to the formation of the Contract between the VA and Plaintiff (“pre-contract-formation allegations”); (2) allegations of conduct that occurred while the Contract was in existence (“post-contract-formation allegations”); and (3) allegations regarding events postdating the termination of the Contract (“post-contract-termination allegations”). Before laying out the allegations in the complaint, the Court notes that Plaintiff's allegations scarcely reference specific dates or even periods of time related to the allegations, and many of the allegations are not in chronological order. It is for that reason that the Court's recitation of the allegations in the complaint largely lacks any specific dates or date ranges.

1. Pre-Contract-Formation Allegations (2016)

In March 2016, the VA solicited bids for a contract (“Contract”) for ambulance and paramedic services in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. (Id. ¶ 64.) At the time, Defendant UPMC/PARC, through Defendant MAC, provided those services to VA hospitals in the same region. (Id. ¶ 65.) Plaintiff was the only contractor that submitted a bid for the Contract. (Id. ¶ 66.) Defendant Utter of the VA reviewed and rejected the bid “faster than he had ever reviewed and/or rejected a bid submitted by any contractor, ” indicating either that he did not review it “or gave it only a cursory and inadequate review with the intent” of rejecting because Plaintiff is minority-owned and -operated. (Id. ¶¶ 70-71.) The VA canceled the solicitation and resumed using UPMC/PARC and MAC to service the region's hospitals. (Id. ¶ 72.)

In August 2016, the VA reissued the solicitation, and Plaintiff submitted a bid and related application. (Id. ¶¶ 73-74.) Plaintiff alleges that EMSW licensing manager Scott Crawford (“Crawford”)-based on agreements between and among the EMSW Defendants, UPMC/PARC, and MAC-delayed submission of Plaintiff's application for “utterly meritless reasons” at “the behest of [the EMSW Defendants].” (Id. ¶¶ 76-77.) Subsequently, Crawford rejected the application for illegitimate reasons, including the failure to capitalize a street name and city. (Id. ¶¶ 78-79.) When Plaintiff resubmitted the application to correct those purported deficiencies, Crawford, encouraged by the EMSW Defendants, rejected the application, but for different reasons, further delaying the application process. (Id. ¶ 80-82.) Eventually, in December 2016, EMSW approved Plaintiff's application and the VA awarded Plaintiff the Contract. (Id. ¶¶ 84-85.) Plaintiff was “the first company owned by an African American to secure a contract for ambulances services of this magnitude with the VA for the Pittsburgh area.” (Id. ¶ 62.)

2. Post-Contract-Formation Allegations (2016 to 2019)

After it “secured the Contract and throughout the Contract, ” Plaintiff alleges that “Defendants Utter, Shaw, Cameron and Rickens, individually and/or in concert, acting in their individual and not official capacities, along with UPMC/PARC and MAC developed and/or participated in several schemes to interfere with and/or undermine the Contract because of racial bias and prejudice toward Plaintiff.” (Id. ¶ 86.) At the start, Utter allegedly advised Rickens that he could prolong MAC's role as the regional provider of ambulance and paramedic services by ensuring that Plaintiff failed equipment inspections. (Id. ¶ 87.) Utter was not in charge of inspections and must have “had to secure” the assistance of EMSW, the Commonwealth, and the DOH, and “officials or employees associated with those entities.” (Id. ¶¶ 88-90.)

At some point thereafter, Rickens and the EMSW Defendants obtained information from the VA, including from Utter, relating to Plaintiff's responsibilities under the Contract and began “inspecting Plaintiff's vehicles and equipment.” (Id. ¶ 93.) In January and February 2017, the EMSW Defendants (Cameron and Shaw), with Rickens' help, “inspected and/or directed others to inspect Plaintiff's vehicles” on three (3) occasions and failed the vehicles each time. (Id. ¶¶ 94-95.) The failures were...