Opinion ID: 2334690
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Inducement to Breach an Express Contract of Confidentiality

Text: As to her allegations of inducement to breach an express contract of confidentiality, the plaintiff alleges that an express contract of confidentiality was created when the plaintiff's physician required her to execute a written waiver of confidentiality before sending her medical records to her own attorney. The parties raise substantial issues of Allstate's awareness of this alleged contract and of its intent to induce its breach. Our review of the complaint, however, raises an even more fundamental issue: whether the allegations of the complaint plead an express contract of confidentiality or merely a physician's gratuitous promise of confidentiality. As claimed in the complaint, the alleged express contract of confidentiality was not part of the original contract of treatment for compensation. Rather, the physician requested the written authorization that forms the basis of this alleged contract only after the plaintiff had been treated and later retained counsel. As such, an issue arises whether this alleged agreement is a new agreement or merely an addition or modification of the existing treatment contract between the plaintiff and her physician. Drawing the inference in favor of the plaintiff, as the law requires us to do when reviewing a motion to dismiss, see McClenahan v. Cooley, 806 S.W.2d 767, 769 (Tenn.1991), we will presume that this new agreement is merely a modification of the earlier contract. The law in Tennessee is clear that the modification of an existing agreement which imposes new obligations on one of the parties is unenforceable for lack of consideration unless it also imposes a new obligation on the other party. Dunlop Tire & Rubber Corp. v. Service Merch. Co., 667 S.W.2d 754, 759 (Tenn.Ct.App.1983); see also Boyd v. McCarty, 142 Tenn. 670, 676, 222 S.W. 528, 530-31 (1920). Indeed, [p]erforming what was already promised in the original contract is not consideration to support a second contract. Dunlop Tire & Rubber Corp., 667 S.W.2d at 759 (citing American Fruit Growers, Inc. v. Hawkinson, 21 Tenn.App. 127, 134, 106 S.W.2d 564, 568 (1937)). As such, to state a claim showing the existence of an enforceable contract in this regard, the complaint must allege facts showing that the plaintiff offered additional consideration to support the physician's new and express promise to keep her records confidential. However, upon our review of the complaint in this case, we do not find any facts alleging that this promise of confidentiality was supported by additional consideration, nor do we find that the facts as alleged lead to a reasonable inference that the promise was supported by consideration. For example, the complaint does not allege that the plaintiff, in exchange for this new express promise of confidentiality, agreed to undertake additional obligations for the benefit of her physician or that she agreed to forbear from doing anything that she previously had a lawful right to do. See Brown Oil Co. v. Johnson, 689 S.W.2d 149, 151 (Tenn.1985) (It is well-settled that consideration exists when the promisee does something that it is under no legal obligation to do or refrains from doing something which it has a legal right to do.). Moreover, the complaint does not allege, nor are we able to infer, that the parties originally intended for the express promise of confidentiality to be part of the original contract of treatment for compensation, but that it was omitted from any express contract by some oversight. Cf. Wright v. Fischer, 24 Tenn.App. 650, 658, 148 S.W.2d 49, 53 (1940). Although the Court of Appeals held that the plaintiff sufficiently pleaded the existence of an express contract, we respectfully disagree. We are required to liberally construe the complaint in favor of the plaintiff when considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, see, e.g., White, 33 S.W.3d at 718 (citation omitted), but we are not permitted to create a claim that the pleader does not spell out in his complaint, Donaldson, 557 S.W.2d at 62; see also Rampy v. ICI Acrylics, Inc., 898 S.W.2d 196, 198 (Tenn.Ct.App.1994) (It is inappropriate for the court to create a claim where none exists.). As such, the mere legal conclusion that a contract exists will not be sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss, unless factual allegations support that conclusion directly or by necessary inference. See White, 33 S.W.3d at 718 (stating that allegations of pure legal conclusions will not sustain a complaint). Accordingly, because the complaint does not allege facts showing the existence of an enforceable express contract supported by adequate and sufficient consideration, we hold that the plaintiff has not stated a claim against Allstate for inducement to breach an express contract of confidentiality.