Medici v. Lifespan Corp.
Medici v. Lifespan Corp.
Opinion of the Court
*220Defendants Lifespan Corporation, Rhode Island Hospital, and Michael Susienka ("Defendants") move to dismiss Plaintiff Dr. Damian Medici's Complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. ECF No. 92.
I. BACKGROUND
Dr. Medici is a research scientist specializing in stem cell research. From 2012 through 2015, Dr. Medici was employed by Rhode Island Hospital ("RIH") and appointed as an Associate Professor at Brown University's medical school. Dr. Medici's research focused on processes by which standard cells transform to stem cells-some of his research focused on a particular process known as endothelial-mesenchymal transition, or "EndMT." In EndMT, endothelial cells-cells that line the surface of blood cells-transform to mesenchymal cells, or stem cells.
Defendant Michael Susienka was hired by Dr. Medici to work in his lab at RIH. While working for Dr. Medici, Mr. Susienka reviewed articles published by Dr. Medici and noticed several images in those articles that appeared to be duplicates of images in other of Dr. Medici's articles. The duplicate images purported to represent the results of different experiments. Mr. Susienka reported the sets of images that he believed were duplicates to Lifespan, the parent of RIH. Lifespan investigated allegations of image duplication,
Federal Regulations and Lifespan's Research Misconduct Policy
Lifespan and RIH, institutions that receive funding from federal Public Health Service agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, must comply with federal regulations regarding research misconduct. The regulations, which appear at 42 C.F.R. Part 93 (the "Regulations"), require that institutions respond to each allegation of research misconduct for which the institution is responsible and that institutions adopt *221written policies regarding the process for addressing allegations of research misconduct when the research is supported by Public Health Service funds.
The Lifespan Policy on Research Misconduct (the "Misconduct Policy") was adopted pursuant to the Regulations and provides that it "will normally be followed when a Lifespan official receives an Allegation," but that "particular circumstances in an individual case may dictate variation from the normal procedure where it is determined to be in the best interests of research integrity, or as needed for the operation of Lifespan and/or of any relevant federal agency." The Regulations and Misconduct Policy provide that when an allegation of research misconduct is received, the Research Integrity Officer ("RIO") must determine if the allegation identifies actions that constitute research misconduct and is credible and specific enough so that evidence of misconduct can be identified. If the RIO determines that the allegation meets these requirements, a two-stage process is followed before a determination of research misconduct can be made.
The first stage is an "inquiry," conducted by an Inquiry Committee empaneled by the RIO. The purpose of the inquiry is to determine whether the second stage of the process-the investigation-is warranted. The Inquiry Committee makes a preliminary evaluation of the evidence and testimony, normally interviewing the complainant, respondent, and other witnesses as provided in the Misconduct Policy. At the end of the inquiry stage, the Inquiry Committee prepares a written summary of the evidence, its conclusions, and a recommendation on whether to proceed to the investigation stage. The Inquiry Committee report and respondent's comments are provided to the Deciding Official ("DO") to decide whether to adopt the Inquiry Committee recommendation. If an investigation is warranted, the Misconduct Policy and the Regulations require that the institution notify the Office of Research Integrity ("ORI") of the decision to proceed to investigation.
The Investigation Committee is selected by the RIO and takes custody of and reviews the evidence collected by the Inquiry Committee, as well as any additional relevant evidence. The Investigation Committee issues a preliminary report explaining its process, the evidence, and conclusions as to each allegation. A finding of research misconduct requires that the conduct at issue constitute "a significant departure from accepted practices of the relevant research community," that the "misconduct be committed intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly," and that "the allegation be proven by a preponderance of the evidence." The respondent is provided with a copy of the preliminary report and has thirty days to respond. The Investigation Committee considers the respondent's comments, makes any modifications to its report, and issues a final report of the investigation. Under Lifespan's Misconduct Policy, the respondent is given an opportunity to respond to the final report.
The Investigation Committee's final report and respondent's comments are forwarded to the DO, who decides whether to adopt the Investigation Committee's findings. The DO's determination, the Investigation Committee's report, and the respondent's response are sent to ORI.
ORI may review the institution's findings and process, make its own finding of research misconduct, propose administrative actions, or take no action at all.
Procedural History
Dr. Medici initially filed this action in the District of Massachusetts and transferred *222it to this Court. Dr. Medici's Second Amended Complaint alleges seven causes of action: (i) breach of contract arising out of Lifespan's alleged breach of the Misconduct Policy; (ii) breach of contract arising out of Lifespan's termination of Dr. Medici; (iii) defamation; (iv) tortious interference with advantageous relations; (v) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (vi) violation of the federal Stored Communications Act; and (vii) Declaratory Judgment and Equitable Relief.
In Dr. Medici's Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, he consented to the dismissal of his claim under the Stored Communications Act, which provided the basis for federal question jurisdiction. ECF No. 79 at 42-43, Dr. Medici asks the Court to assert jurisdiction over his remaining state law claims as they raise an issue of federal law: the application of the Regulations governing research misconduct. In response, Defendants move to dismiss.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides for the dismissal of actions in which the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. When considering a motion to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), the Court must "construe the complaint liberally, treating all well-pleaded facts as true and indulging all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff." Aversa v. United States ,
Federal question jurisdiction exists over "all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States."
III. DISCUSSION
The issues raised by Dr. Medici are insufficient to confer federal question jurisdiction. Dr. Medici's Complaint centers on the alleged shortcomings of Lifespan's research misconduct investigation with respect to Lifespan's Research Misconduct Policy and the federal regulations pursuant to which they were adopted. For example, *223Dr. Medici alleges that he did not receive a summary of his interview before the Inquiry Committee, that the Investigation was not timely completed, and that the Investigation Committee did not have appropriate scientific expertise. ECF No. 58 at ¶¶ 91, 118, 130.
First, while Dr. Medici argues that the interpretation of regulations governing research misconduct investigations confer subject matter jurisdiction over his Complaint, it is not clear that the interpretation of federal regulations is "actually disputed." See Grable ,
Further, the alleged dispute is not a pure issue of law, but is fact bound and situation-specific. Where a case raises a disputed question of law, but the question does not turn on a new interpretation of federal law that will govern many cases, courts have declined to extend federal question jurisdiction over the action. See Empire Healthchoice ,
Dr. Medici's heavy reliance on the First Circuit's decision in Anversa v. Partners Healthcare System, Inc. ,
The Court also declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Mr. Medici's remaining state law claims. Under
IV. CONCLUSION
The issues raised by Dr. Medici fail to confer federal question jurisdiction and the Court declines to extend supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims. For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
After consultation with the Office of Research Integrity, Lifespan referred four allegations relating solely to articles published while Dr. Medici was at Harvard to Harvard. Harvard investigated the four instances of duplication identified by Mr. Susienka and discovered an additional four instances of image duplication in Dr. Medici's publications. The Harvard Investigation Committee found, with respect to each of the eight allegations it reviewed, that Dr. Medici "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly committed research misconduct" and his "approach and attitude with respect to data management and reporting is well beyond the generally accepted practices of the scientific community..." ECF No. 101-1 at 96.
Specifically, the Lifespan Investigation Committee found that the preponderance of the evidence established that Dr. Medici had attempted to manipulate live cell cultures to make it appear that his EndMT attempts were successful, and that images were duplicates with respect to two allegations of image duplication. The Committee found that the images were duplicates and rejected the assertion that the use of duplicate images was not misleading because it "shows exactly the same response," and "the representation of images from one experiment as the authentic results of a completely different experiment is falsification regardless of serendipitous similarities. To suggest otherwise upends scientific integrity." ECF No. 78-3 at 4953.
Dr. Medici argues that the Court should exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims because dismissal would simply mandate that he refile the action asserting diversity jurisdiction given that he moved to Illinois in June 2018. However, the fact that Dr. Medici may refile his case in this court is not a basis for the Court to exercise supplemental jurisdiction. See Grupo Dataflux v. Atlas Global Group, L.P. ,
Accordingly, the Court denies as moot Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 74) and Dr. Medici's Motions to Strike (ECF Nos. 84, 109). Defendants have also moved for sanctions based on the production of documents related to Harvard's investigation into alleged research misconduct by Dr. Medici. The Court is disturbed by the delayed production of relevant documents and the flimsy justification for the delay, but in light of the Court's dismissal of the matter, denies Defendants' Motion for Sanctions. ECF No. 102.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Dr. Damian MEDICI v. LIFESPAN CORPORATION, Rhode Island Hospital, and Michael Susienka
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published