Court Opinion

ID: 9386383
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-12 15:01:09.187722+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:06.161267
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-1268    Document: 47           Page: 1       Filed: 04/12/2023

   United States Court of Appeals
       for the Federal Circuit
                  ______________________

   HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.,
              Plaintiff-Appellant

                                  v.

    PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC., PHILIP MORRIS
               PRODUCTS S.A.,
              Defendants-Appellees
             ______________________

                        2022-1268
                  ______________________

    Appeal from the United States District Court for the
 Northern District of Georgia in No. 1:20-cv-04816-TCB,
 Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr.

           -------------------------------------------------

   HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.,
              Plaintiff-Appellant

                                  v.

    PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC., PHILIP MORRIS
               PRODUCTS S.A.,
              Defendants-Appellees
             ______________________

                        2022-1563
                  ______________________
Case: 22-1268    Document: 47      Page: 2    Filed: 04/12/2023

 2                  HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                    PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

    Appeal from the United States District Court for the
 Northern District of Georgia in No. 1:20-cv-04816-TCB,
 Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr.
                 ______________________

                  Decided: April 12, 2023
                  ______________________

    BARRY P. GOLOB, Cozen O'Connor P.C., Washington,
 DC, argued for plaintiff-appellant. Also represented by
 THOMAS FISHER.

     MAXIMILIAN A. GRANT, Latham & Watkins LLP, Wash-
 ington, DC, argued for all defendants-appellees. Defend-
 ant-appellee Philip Morris Products S.A. also represented
 by GABRIEL K. BELL, DAVID ZUCKER; RICHARD GREGORY
 FRENKEL, Menlo Park, CA.

     ADAM BANKS, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York,
 NY, for defendant-appellee Philip Morris USA, Inc. Also
 represented by ELIZABETH WEISWASSER; WILLIAM SUTTON
 ANSLEY, Washington, DC; MARK PINKERT, Miami, FL.
                 ______________________

     Before TARANTO, STOLL, and CUNNINGHAM, Circuit
                        Judges.
 STOLL, Circuit Judge.
      In these combined appeals, Healthier Choices Manage-
 ment Corp. challenges the district court’s (1) dismissal of
 its original complaint, (2) denial of its motion for leave to
 amend its complaint, and (3) grant of attorneys’ fees. For
 the reasons below, we reverse the district court’s dismissal
 of the original complaint and denial of leave to amend. Ac-
 cordingly, we vacate the award of attorneys’ fees. We re-
 mand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
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 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.       v.                 3
 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

                         BACKGROUND
      Healthier Choices Management Corp. (HCM) sued
 Philip Morris USA, Inc. and Philip Morris Products S.A.
 (collectively, “Philip Morris”) in the United States District
 Court for the Northern District of Georgia for allegedly in-
 fringing at least one claim of U.S. Patent No. 10,561,170.
 The ’170 patent is directed to an electronic nicotine-deliv-
 ery device.
     Two independent claims of the ’170 patent are relevant
 to this appeal: claim 1 and claim 5. Claim 1 provides:
     1. An electronic pipe, comprising:
         a battery, an electronic module, a combus-
         tible material reservoir, and a heating ele-
         ment fixed in the combustible material
         reservoir;
         combustible material loaded into the com-
         bustible material reservoir;
         wherein the pipe is structured to transmit
         an electric current from the battery to the
         heating element, the heating element initi-
         ating a combustion reaction in the combus-
         tible material reservoir.
 ’170 patent col. 9 l. 36–col. 10 l. 4 (emphasis added to dis-
 puted portion).
     Claim 5 provides:
     5. A method of at least partially combusting a com-
     bustible material for inhalation, comprising:
         providing an electronic pipe comprising a
         battery, an electronic module, a combus-
         tible material reservoir, and a heating ele-
         ment fixed in the combustible material
         reservoir;
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 4                  HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                    PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

         loading the combustible material into the
         combustible material reservoir;
         activating the electronic pipe such that
         electric current is transmitted from the
         battery to the heating element;
         initiating, by way of the heating element, a
         combustion reaction in the combustible ma-
         terial reservoir, the combustion reaction at
         least partially combusting the combustible
         material.
 Id. at col. 10 ll. 16–29 (emphasis added to disputed por-
 tion).
      Philip Morris manufactures an electronic nicotine-de-
 livery system, called the IQOS system, that “heats tobacco-
 filled sticks wrapped in paper [‘HeatSticks’] to generate a
 nicotine-containing aerosol.” Healthier Choices Mgmt.
 Corp. v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., No. 20-cv-4816, 2021 WL
 3121487, at *1 (N.D. Ga. July 23, 2021) (Dismissal Op.).
 Philip Morris markets the IQOS system as a “heat-not-
 burn” system, meaning that the tobacco is heated at a low
 enough temperature that the tobacco does not burn, there-
 fore, in Philip Morris’s view, preventing combustion. Ap-
 peal No. 22-1268 Appellees’ Br. 7; see Dismissal Op., 2021
 WL 3121487, at *1.
      HCM alleged in its original complaint that the IQOS
 system infringes claims 1 and 5 of the ’170 patent. It as-
 serted in its complaint that, notwithstanding Philip Mor-
 ris’s claims that the IQOS system is combustion-less, the
 IQOS system does in fact initiate a combustion reaction
 that at least partially combusts the HeatStick. J.A. 1 71.
 The IQOS system does so, according to the original

     1  Citations to “J.A.” refer to the Joint Appendix filed
 in Appeal No. 22-1268.
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 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.    v.                  5
 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 complaint, by “transmitting an electrical current from the
 battery to the heating blade in the [IQOS system which]
 results in combustion of at least a portion of the
 [Heat]Stick.” J.A. 70.
     Philip Morris filed a motion under Federal Rule of Civil
 Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss the complaint for failure to
 state a claim, arguing that an exhibit HCM attached to its
 original complaint conclusively demonstrated that the
 IQOS system does not initiate a combustion reaction as re-
 quired by the asserted claims. Specifically, HCM’s com-
 plaint cited to various portions of a Modified Risk Tobacco
 Product Application (MRTPA) that Philip Morris submit-
 ted to the Food and Drug Administration when it sought a
 modified risk order to sell the IQOS system. 2
      The district court agreed that the MRTPA established
 that the IQOS did not initiate a combustion reaction and
 thus did not infringe the asserted claims; the court accord-
 ingly granted Philip Morris’s motion to dismiss. HCM then
 moved for leave to file an amended complaint, attaching to
 its motion the amended complaint it sought to file and an
 expert declaration. The district court determined that
 HCM did not plausibly allege, in either the original or the
 amended complaint, that the accused IQOS system initi-
 ates a combustion reaction as required by the claims and,
 thus, did not state a proper claim for infringement. See
 Healthier Choices Mgmt. Corp. v. Philip Morris USA, Inc.,
 No. 20-cv-4816, 2021 WL 6014854, at *4 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 3,
 2021). The district court denied HCM’s motion for leave to
 file an amended complaint. Philip Morris then moved to

    2    Also attached to the original complaint was a press
 release from the FDA. See J.A. 92–96. Because the press
 release primarily discusses the contents of the MRTPA, we
 discuss only the MRTPA.
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 6                  HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                    PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 recover its attorneys’ fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285, and the
 district court granted the motion.
     HCM appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
 § 1295(a)(1).
                         DISCUSSION
     On appeal, HCM argues that (1) the district court erred
 in dismissing its original complaint; (2) the district court
 erred in denying HCM’s motion for leave to amend its com-
 plaint; and (3) if remanded, the case should be reassigned
 to a different district judge. Finally, HCM challenges the
 district court’s award of attorneys’ fees to Philip Morris.
 We address each argument in turn, turning first to HCM’s
 challenge to the district court’s dismissal of its original
 complaint.
                               I
      “We apply regional circuit law when reviewing motions
 to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6).”
 Weisner v. Google LLC, 51 F.4th 1073, 1081 (Fed. Cir.
 2022). The Eleventh Circuit “review[s] the district court’s
 grant of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim de
 novo, accepting the allegations in the complaint as true and
 construing them in the light most favorable to the plain-
 tiff.” Hunt v. Aimco Props., L.P., 814 F.3d 1213, 1221
 (11th Cir. 2016). A plaintiff has alleged a plausible com-
 plaint when the court can “draw the reasonable inference
 that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.”
 Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009).
     Philip Morris contends that, under Eleventh Circuit
 law, the court must accept as true all statements contained
 in an exhibit that was attached to and relied on by the com-
 plaint absent the plaintiff’s express disavowal of any such
 statements. See Appeal No. 22-1268 Appellees’ Br. 45.
 Philip Morris argues that, in its complaint, HCM improp-
 erly attempted to “cherry-pick[]” certain sentences from the
 exhibit in support of its allegations, yet disavowed others.
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 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.        v.                   7
 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 Id. at 31–32. Furthermore, according to Philip Morris, the
 original complaint does not sufficiently disavow the
 MRTPA’s repeated statements that the IQOS system is a
 heat-not-burn system and thus that there is no combus-
 tion. Id. at 42–43; see id. at 23–24. Accordingly, Philip
 Morris maintains that HCM’s allegation that the IQOS
 system initiates combustion of at least a portion of the burn
 stick was implausible, and the complaint was properly dis-
 missed.
     Under Eleventh Circuit law, a district court can “con-
 sider exhibits attached to a complaint in ruling on a motion
 to dismiss, and if the allegations of the complaint about a
 particular exhibit conflict with the contents of the exhibit
 itself, the exhibit controls.” Hoefling v. City of Miami, 811
 F.3d 1271, 1277 (11th Cir. 2016) (emphasis added). Thus,
 this occurs “when a plaintiff attaches a document to his
 complaint but his allegations about what the document is
 or says contradict the document itself.” Id.; see Griffin In-
 dus., Inc. v. Irvin, 496 F.3d 1189, 1206 (11th Cir. 2007)
 (“Where there is a conflict between allegations in a plead-
 ing and exhibits thereto, it is well settled that the exhibits
 control.” (quoting Simmons v. Peavy-Welsh Lumber Co.,
 113 F.2d 812, 813 (5th Cir. 1940))). But this does not mean
 that factual assertions made in an exhibit always control
 over contrary factual assertions on the same subject made
 in a complaint. “Where a . . . plaintiff attaches a . . . report
 to his complaint and alleges that it is false, . . . the contents
 of the report cannot be considered as true for purposes of
 ruling on a motion to dismiss.” Saunders v. Duke, 766 F.3d
 1262, 1270 (11th Cir. 2014). Similarly, “[w]hen a com-
 plaint contains specific, well-pleaded allegations that ei-
 ther do not appear in the attached exhibit or that
 contradict conclusory statements in the exhibit,” courts in
 the Eleventh Circuit credit the allegations in the com-
 plaint. Gill ex. rel. K.C.R. v. Judd, 941 F.3d 504, 514
 (11th Cir. 2019).
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 8                  HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                    PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

     The Eleventh Circuit has held that a conclusory, gen-
 eral allegation in the complaint might not suffice in the
 face of specific, material, uncontroverted facts stated in an
 exhibit. For example in Griffin Industries, 496 F.3d
 at 1194–95, Griffin Industries, the owner of a chicken ren-
 dering plant, sued state and local agencies, accusing them
 of violating its constitutional rights to equal protection by
 disparate treatment. Griffin Industries alleged in its com-
 plaint that the defendants had “singled [it] out” and that a
 “similarly situated” entity had not been subject to similar
 treatment. Id. at 1200. The Eleventh Circuit determined
 this “conclusory allegation” in the complaint to be untrue
 in light of the exhibits. Id. at 1205. Although the com-
 plaint addressed some factors “relevant to an objectively
 reasonable governmental decisionmaker,” it left some of
 these factors unaddressed. Id. at 1207. One of these un-
 addressed factors—accurate self-reporting—was discussed
 extensively by one of the attached exhibits; it showed that
 the competitor self-reported while Griffin Industries did
 not. Id. at 1206–07. Because the exhibit’s specific discus-
 sion of this factor negated the conclusory allegation that
 Griffin Industries and its competitor were similarly situ-
 ated, the Eleventh Circuit concluded that Griffin failed to
 plausibly allege an Equal Protection Clause violation. Id.
 at 1207.
     In contrast, the Eleventh Circuit determined that the
 plaintiff’s complaint adequately disavowed the contents of
 an attached exhibit in Saunders, 766 F.3d at 1270. In
 Saunders, the plaintiff sued law enforcement officers, al-
 leging that they had used excessive force in arresting him,
 and attached several police reports to his complaint. Id.
 The Eleventh Circuit determined that the attached police
 reports should not have been considered in ruling on a
 Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Specifically, the contents
 of the reports could not be considered as true for purposes
 of ruling on a motion to dismiss because the plaintiff “ex-
 pressly alleged in his complaint that the police reports that
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 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.       v.                   9
 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 were submitted failed to properly and correctly document
 the excessive force inflicted on him and the injuries he suf-
 fered.” Id. In this case, the complaint had adequately dis-
 avowed the exhibit where it alleged the exhibit to be false.
      The Eleventh Circuit undertook a similar analysis in
 Hoefling, 811 F.3d at 1271. In that case, the plaintiff al-
 leged in his complaint that the City of Miami violated his
 Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights when officers
 seized his resident sailboat and destroyed it. In his original
 complaint, the plaintiff had attached incident reports,
 which were written by officers to inform the plaintiff of the
 derelict state of his sailboat. Id. at 1276. In his second
 amended complaint, the plaintiff alleged that the officer
 gave him “an ‘incorrect opinion’ that the sailboat was der-
 elict or at risk of being derelict.” Id. at 1278. The Eleventh
 Circuit noted that, “[a]t the very least, the allegations in
 the . . . complaint dispute [the incident] report that the sail-
 boat was in a derelict state. Moreover, [the] complaint does
 not admit (or give any credence to) the statement in the
 [incident] report that the sailboat was found covered with
 garbage.” Id. In light of the plaintiff’s disavowal of the
 contents of the attached report, the Eleventh Circuit deter-
 mined that the district court “should not have accepted as
 true the contents of the incident reports to find, when rul-
 ing on the motion to dismiss the second amended com-
 plaint, that Mr. Hoefling had notice that his sailboat was
 derelict or that the vessel was in fact derelict.” Id.
     In Gill, the Eleventh Circuit considered how specific a
 complaint’s allegation must be for the district court to ac-
 cept the allegation over statements in the attached exhibits
 for purposes of a motion to dismiss. 941 F.3d at 515.
 There, the plaintiff, a student, sued a deputy who entered
 her home and arrested her without a warrant, arguing
 among other things that the deputy did not have probable
 cause to make the arrest. On the day the deputy arrested
 the plaintiff, he filled out an arrest affidavit explaining how
 he reached the conclusion that there was probable cause to
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 10                 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                    PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 arrest the plaintiff for the crime of aggravated stalking of
 a classmate. The affidavit included summaries of inter-
 views the deputy conducted with that classmate and other
 students, some of which included statements that the
 plaintiff had bullied that classmate. The plaintiff attached
 the arrest affidavit to her complaint and referred to it sev-
 eral times in the complaint. Id. at 512. The Eleventh Cir-
 cuit compared the allegations in the complaint with their
 counterparts in the arrest affidavit, finding some of the al-
 legations “specific enough” to “prevent th[e counterpart]
 statement in the affidavit from being considered” for the
 motion to dismiss. Id. at 515. For instance, the complaint’s
 allegation that “the description of the fight was deliber-
 ately false and misleading” was too general or conclusory
 because “it [did] not say what part of the description was
 false and misleading and in what way.” Id. On the other
 hand, the complaint’s statement that the plaintiff “never
 confessed to bullying” the classmate was “specific enough
 . . . to disregard all of the statements about bullying that
 [the] affidavit says came from [the plaintiff]’s confession.”
 Id.
     Eleventh Circuit law is thus clear: if a plaintiff’s com-
 plaint contains only a conclusory allegation that is directly
 contradicted by more concrete statements in an attach-
 ment to the complaint, the statements in the attachment
 will control. See, e.g., Griffin Indus., 496 F.3d at 1205. In
 contrast—as in Saunders, Hoefling, and Gill—a plaintiff
 can sufficiently disavow statements in attachments to a
 complaint where the complaint makes a specific contention
 contradicting those statements. In no case, however, has
 the Eleventh Circuit required that a plaintiff seeking to
 disavow statements in an attachment to its complaint re-
 cite certain magic words to do so. See, e.g., Gill, 941 F.3d
 at 515 (determining that, under the totality of the circum-
 stances, a certain allegation was “specific enough” to disre-
 gard the contents of the attachment).
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 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.    v.                 11
 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

     We decline to depart from the Eleventh Circuit’s prec-
 edent, which we are bound to apply. In this case, HCM’s
 original and amended complaints recite sufficient allega-
 tions to raise a facially plausible case of patent infringe-
 ment.     The allegations in HCM’s original complaint
 specifically rejected the notion that the IQOS system does
 not initiate a combustion reaction:
     [O]n information and belief, while Defendants as-
     sert that the Accused Infringing Product does not
     cause combustion of the IQOS® Tobacco Sticks, De-
     fendants’ own testing concludes that 97%, not
     100%, of the harmful chemicals associated with
     combustion are eliminated by the Accused Infring-
     ing Product, and the presence of 3% of the two im-
     portant combustion markers nitrogen oxides and
     carbon monoxide indicates that at least some com-
     bustion occurs when the Accused Infringing Prod-
     uct is operated as designed and intended by
     Defendants.
 J.A. 71.
     Here, the original complaint explains in detail why it
 disagrees with Philip Morris’s characterization in the
 MRTPA of its IQOS system as combustion-less. The com-
 plaint plausibly alleges that Philip Morris’s own testing
 concludes that the “presence of 3% of the two important
 combustion markers . . . indicates that at least some com-
 bustion occurs.” Id.
     These allegations are neither general nor conclusory.
 Instead, we determine that these allegations are specific
 enough, under Eleventh Circuit law, to disavow the
 MRTPA’s statements that the IQOS system does not initi-
 ate a combustion reaction. The allegations made in HCM’s
 complaint are like those made in the complaints considered
 in Saunders, Hoefling, and Gill. The original complaint di-
 rectly acknowledges the MRTPA’s statement of “no com-
 bustion” but gives a plausible theory for why the IQOS
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 12                  HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                     PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 system might nonetheless initiate combustion of at least a
 portion of the HeatStick.
      Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the district
 court must construe the complaint in a light most favorable
 to the plaintiff and accept as true all facts which the plain-
 tiff alleges. Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 12(b)(6); see also Gill, 941
 F.3d at 511. In this case, HCM’s original complaint con-
 tained specific allegations that the IQOS system initiated
 a combustion reaction. See J.A. 70–71. In our view, these
 specific, targeted allegations are sufficient to disavow the
 contradictory statements in the attached MRTPA in which
 Philip Morris self-reported that its products do not com-
 bust. We thus hold that, in its original complaint, HCM
 stated a valid claim for patent infringement under Elev-
 enth Circuit law notwithstanding attachment of the
 MRTPA exhibit.
                               II
     We now turn to HCM’s amended complaint, which pre-
 sents an even stronger case in favor of HCM.
     We apply regional circuit law when reviewing a district
 court’s decision regarding motions for leave to file an
 amended complaint. Unigene Lab’ys, Inc. v. Apotex, Inc.,
 655 F.3d 1352, 1359 (Fed. Cir. 2011). The Eleventh Circuit
 reviews such decisions for an abuse of discretion. Williams
 v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. Sys. of Ga., 477 F.3d 1282, 1291
 (11th Cir. 2007). A district court abuses its discretion
 when it bases its decision on an “erroneous view of the law
 or on a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence.”
 Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Mgmt. Sys., Inc., 572 U.S.
 559, 563 n.2 (2014).
     Under Eleventh Circuit law, an amended complaint su-
 persedes the previous complaint. Fritz v. Standard Sec.
 Life Ins. Co. of N.Y., 676 F.2d 1356, 1358 (11th Cir. 1982).
 Therefore, a district court, in considering an amended com-
 plaint, should not consider the now “abandoned” original
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 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.      v.                 13
 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 complaint and its attachments. See TVPX ARS, Inc.
 v. Genworth Life & Annuity Ins. Co., 959 F.3d 1318, 1327
 (11th Cir. 2020).
     In the Eleventh Circuit, however, district courts may
 consider a document outside the pleadings and treat it as
 part of the pleadings for purposes of Rule 12(b)(6) if the
 document is “(1) central to the plaintiff’s claim; and (2) un-
 disputed.” Horsley v. Feldt, 304 F.3d 1125, 1134 (11th Cir.
 2002); see Brooks v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Fla., Inc.,
 116 F.3d 1364, 1369 (11th Cir. 1997). A document is “cen-
 tral” to a claim when its contents are at “the very heart” of
 the dispute. Day v. Taylor, 400 F.3d 1272, 1276 (11th Cir.
 2005). For example, a contract is central to a contract dis-
 pute and a patent is central to a patent infringement case.
 A document is “undisputed” if its authenticity is not chal-
 lenged. Horsley, 304 F.3d at 1134.
     In its proposed amended complaint, HCM did not at-
 tach the MRTPA and removed any citations to the MRTPA
 that were in its original complaint. At the same time, HCM
 continued to assert that “combustion occurs in the IQOS®
 system.” J.A. 675. HCM’s proposed amended complaint
 includes allegations, more explicit than those in its original
 complaint, regarding how the IQOS system initiates com-
 bustion of at least a portion of the HeatStick. Specifically,
 HCM’s proposed amended complaint includes the following
 allegations:
     47. A combustion reaction is a chemical reaction
     that requires fuel, oxygen and an ignition source.
     On information and belief, the HeatStick provides
     fuel, air provides oxygen, and the IQOS® system
     provides a heating blade, which is the heating ele-
     ment and ignition source.
     48. On information and belief, the IQOS® system
     generates combustion markers, including carbon
     monoxide and carbon dioxide, in sufficient
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 14                  HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                     PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

      quantities to indicate that combustion occurs in the
      IQOS® system.
      49. On information and belief, the heating element
      initiates a combustion reaction in the combustible
      material reservoir by heating the heating blade,
      which in turn heats the HeatStick to temperatures
      at or below 350ºC. On information and belief, at
      temperatures at or below 350ºC, the IQOS® system
      initiates a combustion reaction in the chamber of
      the system. Specifically,
         a. A combustible material is loaded into the
         combustible material chamber;
         b. The heating blade pierces the HeatStick
         and initiates a combustion reaction in the
         HeatStick;
         c. A thermogravimetric analysis-differen-
         tial scanning calorimetry (“TGA-DSC”)
         analysis of a HeatStick evidences an exo-
         thermic reaction between 250ºC and 340ºC
         and therefore, a combustion reaction; and
         d. The concentrations of CO and CO2 that
         are produced by the HeatStick, after the
         heating blade pierces and heats the
         HeatStick, evidence a combustion reaction.
 J.A. 675–76 (citations omitted).
      HCM attached the declaration of Dr. Michael Deible,
 its technical expert, to its proposed amended complaint in
 further support of these allegations. Dr. Deible opined the
 following, each of which, taken as true, supports HCM’s al-
 legations that the IQOS system initiates a combustion re-
 action: (1) that his testing data shows that combustion of
 the HeatStick occurs “beginning at a temperature of about
 250 ºC and at a temperature of about 400 ºC,” as shown by
 weight loss in the HeatStick, J.A. 705–06; (2) that
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 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 combustion of a HeatStick produces CO and CO2, J.A. 708;
 and (3) that the HeatSticks are blackened and charred af-
 ter normal use, with portions of the HeatStick “exhibit[ing]
 ash, indicative of combustion,” J.A. 708–09.
      Before the district court, Philip Morris contended that
 the MRTPA was so central to the proposed amended com-
 plaint that it should have been treated as if attached to
 that complaint. Appeal No. 22-1268 Appellees’ Br. 35–42
 (citing Horsley, 304 F.3d at 1134). Even assuming, as
 Philip Morris contends and the district court found, 3 that
 the MRTPA is “central” to HCM’s patent infringement al-
 legations—and thus that it should have been treated as if
 attached to the amended complaint 4—we conclude that the
 allegations in the proposed amended complaint and at-
 tached expert report are specific enough under Eleventh
 Circuit law to disavow the MRTPA’s statements regarding
 no combustion and raise a plausible allegation of patent in-
 fringement. The Eleventh Circuit “do[es] not permit a dis-
 trict court to consider, on a motion to dismiss, exhibits
 attached to an earlier complaint that a plaintiff has ex-
 pressly disavowed or rejected as untrue in a subsequent

     3    Horsley, a case cited by both Philip Morris and the
 district court, is distinguishable. Horsley was a defamation
 suit where the district court considered statements made
 in a newspaper article and in a transcript of a television
 broadcast. 304 F.3d at 1128, 1133–34. Although the Elev-
 enth Circuit in Horsley articulated what is required for a
 district court to consider documents outside the pleadings
 for a motion to dismiss (i.e., centrality and authenticity),
 Horsley did not concern whether the plaintiff disavowed
 the contents of such documents.
     4    To be clear, we are not convinced that the one-sided
 MRTPA document that Philip Morris submitted to the
 FDA is “central” to the patent infringement dispute here.
 We simply assume so for purposes of resolving this appeal.
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 16                 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                    PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 amended complaint.” Hoefling, 811 F.3d at 1277; see id.
 at 1277–78 (holding that “when a plaintiff amends its orig-
 inal complaint to make clear ‘it had rejected’ a certain con-
 tract provision, it will not be bound by the terms of the
 contract simply because it had attached the contract to the
 original complaint” (quoting Dresdner Bank AG v. M/V
 Olympia Voyager, 463 F.3d 1210, 1215 (11th Cir. 2006))).
     As we explained above, HCM’s amended complaint
 need not recite particular magic words to disavow state-
 ments made in the MRTPA. By including specific allega-
 tions that contradict that document and expressly
 removing all citations to that document, HCM’s amended
 complaint “expressly disavow[s] or reject[s] as untrue”
 Philip Morris’s claim that the IQOS system does not com-
 bust. Id. at 1277. In other words, even if the MRTPA was
 “central” to HCM’s allegations, HCM can—and did—ex-
 pressly disavow or reject as untrue the relevant portions of
 the MRTPA.
     We also note that the statements in the MRTPA cannot
 be used to arrive at a definitive determination on infringe-
 ment because the patent might require a different meaning
 of “combustion” than the MRTPA. The MRTPA—rather
 narrowly—defines a “combustion process” as “burning and
 the formation of smoke with solid particles and high levels
 of [harmful and potentially harmful constituents].”
 J.A. 165; see J.A. 136. HCM contends, however, that the
 proper construction of “combustion” in the ’170 patent re-
 quires only “a chemical reaction that requires fuel, oxygen
 and an ignition source.” J.A. 675 (defining “combustion re-
 action”). The district court did not conduct a Markman
 hearing or seek briefing on the meaning of this key claim
 term, or engage in claim construction, to resolve the facial
 conflict between these two constructions. It is possible
 that, after conducting a Markman hearing and receiving
 briefing on the issue, the district court will construe this
 phrase and thereafter resolve the infringement issue on
 summary judgment. But it would be premature for the
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 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.       v.                 17
 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 district court to do so based solely on the complaint at the
 Rule 12(b)(6) stage.
     In view of the specific infringement allegations which
 disavow any contradictory statements in the MRTPA, we
 determine that HCM’s amended complaint, like its original
 complaint, stated a valid claim for patent infringement not-
 withstanding consideration of the MRTPA exhibit. Be-
 cause we reverse the district court’s dismissal of HCM’s
 complaint, we also vacate the court’s award of attorneys’
 fees. See Chang v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 845 F.3d
 1087, 1099 (11th Cir. 2017) (vacating district court’s award
 of attorneys’ fees after reversing judgment); Cellspin Soft,
 Inc. v. Fitbit, Inc., 927 F.3d 1306, 1319 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (va-
 cating district court’s award of attorneys’ fees under
 35 U.S.C. § 285 after vacating district court’s dismissal of
 complaints).
                               III
     Finally, we consider HCM’s request for reassignment
 to a different district court judge on remand. Because re-
 assignment is not an issue unique to patent law, we follow
 regional circuit law. Eolas Techs., Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.,
 457 F.3d 1279, 1282 (Fed. Cir. 2006). The Eleventh Circuit
 considers three factors when deciding whether to reassign
 a case on remand: “(1) whether the original judge would
 have difficulty putting his previous views and findings
 aside; (2) whether reassignment is appropriate to preserve
 the appearance of justice; [and] (3) whether reassignment
 would entail waste and duplication out of proportion to the
 gains realized from reassignment.” Chudasama v. Mazda
 Motor Corp., 123 F.3d 1353, 1373 (11th Cir. 1997).
     HCM alleges that reassignment is warranted. HCM
 contends that the first two factors—whether the district
 judge would have difficulty putting aside his previous
 views and whether the appearance of justice would be pre-
 served—are satisfied because the district judge deemed
 HCM’s claims “baseless” and reflected a “studied
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 18                  HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP. v.
                                     PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 ignorance,” found the case to be exceptional, and awarded
 fees to Philip Morris. Appeal No. 22-1563 Appellant’s
 Br. 24–27 (citing Healthier Choices Mgmt. Corp. v. Philip
 Morris USA, Inc., No. 20-cv-4816, 2022 WL 870206, at *2–3
 (N.D. Ga. Feb. 22, 2022)). HCM also argues there would be
 no waste or duplication because the case only reached the
 pleadings stage and discovery was stayed. Id. at 27–28.
     Philip Morris responds that none of the factors weigh
 in favor of reassignment and thus HCM has not demon-
 strated that reassignment is warranted.              Appeal
 No. 22-1563 Appellees’ Br. 29–36. Philip Morris contends
 that the district judge’s strongly worded opinions ruling
 against HCM do not show that the district judge would
 have difficulty putting aside his previous views or that the
 appearance of justice would not be preserved. Id. at 30–35.
 Regarding waste and duplication, Philip Morris argues
 that the district judge spent nearly a year and a half be-
 coming familiar with the case and technology and resolved
 ten different motions. Id. at 35–36.
     We agree with Philip Morris. As the Eleventh Circuit
 has held, “the fact that the district judge ruled against the
 appellants previously is of little impact; otherwise, every
 reversed case would have to be reassigned on remand.”
 Stargel v. SunTrust Banks, Inc., 791 F.3d 1309, 1312
 (11th Cir. 2015). Similarly, the Eleventh Circuit has made
 clear that a district court’s award of attorneys’ fees does not
 support reassignment. AcryliCon USA, LLC v. Silikal
 GMBH & Co., 46 F.4th 1317, 1331 (11th Cir. 2022). That
 the district judge had previously ruled adversely against
 HCM does not warrant the “severe remedy” of reassign-
 ment here. Comparelli v. Republica Bolivariana De Vene-
 zuela, 891 F.3d 1311, 1328 (11th Cir. 2018). Accordingly,
 we deny HCM’s request for reassignment on remand.
                         CONCLUSION
     For the above reasons, we reverse the district court’s
 dismissal of HCM’s original complaint and its denial of
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 HEALTHIER CHOICES MANAGEMENT CORP.    v.                19
 PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.

 HCM’s motion for leave to amend its complaint. Accord-
 ingly, we vacate the award of attorneys’ fees. We remand
 the case to the district court for further proceedings con-
 sistent with this opinion.
                REVERSED AND REMANDED
                           COSTS
 No costs.