County of Santa Clara v. Astra United States, Inc.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS

INTRODUCTION

In this putative class action, a county government seeks to recover alleged overcharges for medicines sold by pharmaceutical companies to public hospitals in California. The action is brought under Section 17204 of California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) and under California’s False Claims Act (“CFCA”), among other theories. Having successfully removed the action from state court, defendants now move to dismiss. The grounds for the motion are that plaintiff lacks standing, that plaintiffs state-law claims are preempted by federal law, that primary jurisdiction rests with the Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Inspector General, that plaintiff has failed to meet the pleading requirements of FRCP 8 and 9(b), and that plaintiff is not the real party in interest. Defendant SmithKline Beecham has filed a supplemental motion to dismiss on grounds that all four of plaintiffs claims are time-barred.

For reasons explained below, this order holds that plaintiff has no standing to bring suit under the “any person” provision of the UCL. The UCL claim, as pled, must be Dismissed. Plaintiffs CFCA claim is Dismissed for…