Court Opinion

ID: 9891024
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-17 14:00:32.715689+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:40.979774
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 21-14214   Document: 71-1    Date Filed: 10/17/2023   Page: 1 of 16

                                                         [PUBLISH]
                                 In the
                 United States Court of Appeals
                        For the Eleventh Circuit

                         ____________________

                               No. 21-14214
                         ____________________

        RONDA SCOTT,
                                                    Plaintiﬀ-Appellant
                                                       Cross Appellee,
        versus
        ADVANCED PHARMACEUTICAL CONSULTANTS, INC.,

                                                  Defendant-Appellee,

        CENTURION OF FLORIDA, LLC,

                                                  Defendant-Appellee
                                                     Cross Appellant.
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        2                      Opinion of the Court                21-14214

                             ____________________

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                       for the Northern District of Florida
                     D.C. Docket No. 5:19-cv-00571-RH-MJF
                            ____________________

        Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and LUCK and MARCUS, Cir-
        cuit Judges.
        MARCUS, Circuit Judge:
                At its simplest, this case is about whether Ronda Scott was
        retaliated against by her former employer, Advanced Pharmaceu-
        tical Consultants, Inc. (“APC”), and the company that contracted
        with her employer, Centurion of Florida, LLC (“Centurion”) (to-
        gether, “Defendants”), for engaging in protected activity. But, as it
        turns out, we are without power to decide that question because
        we lack jurisdiction to entertain this interlocutory appeal.
                APC ﬁred Scott in September 2018. Scott alleges it was be-
        cause she reported to Centurion and APC that some of Centurion’s
        prison pharmacies were logging Epclusa, a drug used to treat hep-
        atitis C, as a narcotic even though it is not one, and because she
        complained about dangerous “staﬀ turnover” contributing to a
        “complete system breakdown” in one prison. Scott claims that this
        activity was legally protected, so she sued Centurion and APC in
        the United States District Court for the Northern District of Flor-
        ida in late December 2019. Her complaint alleged four counts: vi-
        olations of the Florida Private Whistleblower Act (“FPWA”) and
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        21-14214              Opinion of the Court                        3

        Florida Public Whistleblower Act (“FWA”) against Centurion and
        APC, and violations of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and inten-
        tional interference with her advantageous business relations (“tor-
        tious interference”) against Centurion.
               Centurion and APC both moved for summary judgment on
        all counts. The district court granted summary judgment on three
        of them -- the FPWA, FWA, and FCA counts -- but denied summary
        judgment on the tortious interference count. Pursuant to Federal
        Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b), the district court directed the clerk
        to enter a ﬁnal judgment on the three resolved counts, and it certi-
        ﬁed that the fourth count satisﬁed the requirements of 28 U.S.C.
        § 1292(b) for immediate interlocutory review, should either party
        ﬁle an appropriate application with this Court. We must now de-
        cide whether the district court’s certiﬁcation was proper as to
        Scott’s direct appeal, and whether the requirements of 28 U.S.C.
        § 1292(b) have been met as to Centurion’s cross appeal.
              After careful review and with the beneﬁt of oral argument,
        we conclude that the answer to both questions is no. We therefore
        dismiss the appeals for lack of appellate jurisdiction.
                                         I.
                Centurion contracted with the Florida Department of Cor-
        rections to supply health care services to inmates in some Florida
        prisons. The contract required Centurion to engage a subcontrac-
        tor to “provide certain consultant pharmacy services” to those pris-
        ons. To fulfill this obligation, Centurion hired APC as an independ-
        ent contractor.
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        4                      Opinion of the Court                 21-14214

               Scott formerly worked for APC as a regional consultant
        pharmacist. Among other things, she oversaw the pharmacies in
        several Centurion-serviced prisons to ensure compliance with ap-
        plicable laws, rules, and regulations. APC fired Scott on September
        10, 2018. Scott alleges it was because she spoke about the serious
        conditions that she found at the prisons.
                First, on May 16, 2018, Scott noted on Centurion’s required
        Continuous Quality Improvement (“CQI”) form that she observed
        a “complete system breakdown -- staff turnover.” Scott explained
        that she made these comments to document her belief that licensed
        personnel were being replaced by unlicensed personnel in the phar-
        macy and that unlicensed personnel were performing tasks that
        could not be performed without a license. Scott also complained
        that inventory was not correct for certain medications and that
        some doses and documentation were missing, specifically for
        Epclusa, a medication used to treat hepatitis C. Scott testified that
        this visit was “probably the worst [she had] ever seen [at] a facility
        since [she] was promoted to the position as consultant pharmacist”
        and that she thought “the pharmacy permit could have been easily
        revoked on that day.”
              Centurion disagreed with Scott’s comments and asked her
        to change them on the CQI form. Centurion told her that she did
        not need to log Epclusa because it was being monitored separately
        pursuant to a court order. And Centurion thought the “complete
        system breakdown” language was unfair, unprofessional, and not
        responsive to the information requested by the CQI form. Scott
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        21-14214               Opinion of the Court                        5

        complied and amended the CQI form even though she didn’t want
        to. After changing the CQI form, Scott contacted the Department
        of Health to ask if her license would be jeopardized if “another ac-
        creditation agency inspected the facility” and disagreed with the
        amended findings.
               Scott continued to raise concerns about Epclusa in subse-
        quent prison visits. Centurion grew frustrated and asked APC if
        Scott could be replaced with another consultant pharmacist. APC
        counseled Scott about her performance, but Scott said that she felt
        she was being targeted and discriminated against. Scott was issued
        a final written warning by APC for work performance issues on
        August 29, 2018. According to APC, Scott then failed to appear at
        work as scheduled on two occasions. As a result of these and other
        “performance issues,” Scott was fired a short time later.
                Believing her termination to be a form of retaliation for
        speaking out, Scott initiated this action by ﬁling a complaint in the
        Northern District of Florida on December 27, 2019. Her complaint
        alleged four counts: two whistleblower retaliation counts against
        both Defendants under the FPWA and FWA, and a retaliation
        count under the FCA and a common law tortious interference
        count against only Centurion. The complaint contained a single
        “prayer of relief ” requesting compensatory damages, injunctive re-
        lief, prejudgment interest, attorney’s fees and costs, and punitive
        damages “on all claims on which such damages may be presently
        asserted.” The complaint did not indicate whether each form of
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        6                       Opinion of the Court                   21-14214

        relief is speciﬁc to a particular count, other than asserting that com-
        pensatory damages are sought “on all Counts.”
               Defendants moved for summary judgment across the board.
        The district court granted summary judgment on three of the four
        counts but left the tortious interference count open and outstand-
        ing. In an amended summary judgment order, the district court
        directed the clerk to enter a partial final judgment under Federal
        Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) “on the claims resolved by th[e] or-
        der.” The trial court also certified that the still-pending tortious
        interference count satisfied the requirements of 28 U.S.C.
        § 1292(b).
               Scott timely appealed the district court’s grant of summary
        judgment on the FPWA and FWA counts. Scott did not, however,
        appeal the entry of summary judgment in favor of Centurion on
        the FCA count. Centurion, in turn, cross appealed the district
        court’s denial of summary judgment on the tortious interference
        count.
                                           II.
               A certification under Rule 54(b) implicates the scope of our
        appellate jurisdiction, so we must consider that issue sua sponte.
        Ebrahimi v. City of Huntsville Bd. of Educ., 114 F.3d 162, 165 (11th Cir.
        1997) (per curiam). Rule 54(b) reads this way:
               When an action presents more than one claim for re-
               lief -- whether as a claim, counterclaim, crossclaim, or
               third-party claim -- or when multiple parties are in-
               volved, the court may direct entry of a final judgment
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        21-14214                 Opinion of the Court                         7

               as to one or more, but fewer than all, claims or parties
               only if the court expressly determines that there is no
               just reason for delay. Otherwise, any order or other
               decision, however designated, that adjudicates fewer
               than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer
               than all the parties does not end the action as to any
               of the claims or parties and may be revised at any time
               before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the
               claims and all the parties’ rights and liabilities.
        FED. R. CIV. P. 54(b).
                The Rule requires two things: a final judgment, and a deter-
        mination that there is “no just reason” to delay certifying the order
        as final and immediately appealable. Id. We review de novo a dis-
        trict court’s determination of the first prong -- whether a partial ad-
        judication amounts to a final judgment. Lloyd Noland Found. v.
        Tenet Health Care Corp., 483 F.3d 773, 778 (11th Cir. 2007). We re-
        view for abuse of discretion the district court’s determination of
        the second prong -- whether there is “just reason for delay,” id.
        (quoting Curtiss-Wright Corp. v. Gen. Elec. Co., 446 U.S. 1, 8 (1980)
        (internal quotation marks omitted)), but only if the district court
        “clearly and cogently articulat[es] its reasoning,” Ebrahimi, 114 F.3d
        at 166. Without a clear and cogent statement of its reasons, “we
        cannot defer to the district court[’s] determination and must assess
        whether any obvious reasons support entry of the Rule 54(b) certi-
        fication.” Id. at 167. “[C]ircumstances will be encountered only
        rarely” that support Rule 54(b) certification. Id. at 166.
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        8                       Opinion of the Court                    21-14214

                                           A.
                We begin with Scott’s direct appeal. Ordinarily we may
        only hear appeals of “final decisions of the district courts.” 28
        U.S.C. § 1291. A final decision “ends the litigation on the merits
        and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.”
        Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Mestre, 701 F.2d 1365, 1368 (11th Cir. 1983)
        (quoting Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233 (1945)). The flip-
        side of this is that typically we may not review an order of a district
        court “adjudicating fewer than all the claims in a suit, or adjudicat-
        ing the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties” because
        such an order is not a “final judgment from which an appeal may
        be taken.” Lloyd Noland, 483 F.3d at 777 (citing Lex Tex Ltd. v. Unifi,
        Inc. (In re Yarn Processing Pat. Validity Litig.), 680 F.2d 1338, 1339
        (11th Cir. 1982)). But there is a limited exception to the general
        rule: we may entertain an appeal of an order that does not dispose
        of all claims against all parties if the district court properly certifies
        such an order as “final” under Rule 54(b). As we explain below, we
        conclude that Scott’s appeal against Centurion fails the first prong,
        and, because there is no final judgment against Centurion and it
        would be a waste of judicial resources to hear Scott’s appeal against
        APC separately, her appeal against APC fails the second.
               To determine if there is a ﬁnal judgment for purposes of a
        Rule 54(b) certiﬁcation, our task is to “scrutinize the district court’s
        evaluation of the interrelationship of the claims, in order to decide
        whether the district court completely disposed of one or more
        claims.” Brandt v. Bassett (In re Se. Banking Corp.), 69 F.3d 1539, 1546
        (11th Cir. 1995). “We have interpreted the ﬁrst prong of Rule 54(b)
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        21-14214                Opinion of the Court                          9

        to require that a judgment ‘disposes entirely of a separable claim
        or dismisses a party entirely’ in order to be considered ‘ﬁnal.’”
        Lloyd Noland, 483 F.3d at 779 (quoting In re Se. Banking Corp., 69 F.3d
        at 1547).
                This analysis is easy with respect to APC. The district court’s
        order disposed of all counts against APC and, in doing so, dismissed
        it entirely from the action. This plainly amounts to a ﬁnal judg-
        ment under Rule 54(b). See id. Of course, that is not the end of
        the story for APC. We are still required to determine that there is
        “no just reason for delay” in certifying the district court’s order as
        ﬁnal and immediately appealable. And for the reasons we explain
        below, we ﬁnd that there is a powerful reason for delay: so that an
        appeal of all Scott’s whistleblower counts against both Defendants
        can be heard together.
               The ﬁnal judgment analysis concerning Centurion is trick-
        ier. The district court’s order did not dispose of all of Scott’s counts
        against Centurion; her count for tortious interference remains
        open. So we must decide whether that count is separable from the
        three dismissed ones.
               “[T]he line between deciding one of several claims and de-
        ciding only part of a single claim is very obscure.” In re Se. Banking
        Corp., 69 F.3d at 1547 (citations omitted). Ultimately, the “touch-
        stone for determining whether an entire ‘claim’ has been adjudi-
        cated for the purposes of Rule 54(b) is whether that claim is ‘sepa-
        rately enforceable’ without ‘mutually exclu[ding]’ or ‘substantially
        overlap[ping]’ with remedies being sought by the remaining claims
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        10                        Opinion of the Court                     21-14214

        pending in the district court.” Lloyd Noland, 483 F.3d at 780 (altera-
        tions in original) (quoting In re Se. Banking Corp., 69 F.3d at 1547).
        “True multiplicity is not present where . . . the plaintiﬀ merely pre-
        sents alternative theories, drawn from the law of the same sover-
        eign, by which the same set of facts might give rise to a single lia-
        bility.” Schexnaydre v. Travelers Ins. Co., 527 F.2d 855, 856 (5th Cir.
                                                     1
        1976) (per curiam) (citations omitted). In contrast, “[c]laims are
        separable when there is more than one possible recovery, or if dif-
        ferent sorts of relief are sought.” In re Se. Banking Corp., 69 F.3d at
        1547 (quotation marks and citations omitted). The bottom line is
        that even if a district court adjudicates one count of a complaint, if
        another count seeks substantially similar relief, “the adjudication
        of the ﬁrst count does not represent a ‘ﬁnal judgment’ because
        both counts are functionally part of the same claim under Rule
        54(b).” Lloyd Noland, 483 F.3d at 780.
                By way of example, in Lloyd Noland we considered whether
        a contractual indemniﬁcation count was separable from a com-
        mon-law indemniﬁcation count where both counts stemmed from
        the breach of a guaranty agreement concerning the sale of a hos-
        pital. Id. at 775, 778–79. The district court granted summary judg-
        ment on the contractual indemniﬁcation count but not on the com-
        mon-law indemniﬁcation count. Id. at 781. We held that the two
        counts were not separable because the common-law count

        1
         All Fifth Circuit decisions handed down before the close of business on Sep-
        tember 30, 1981, are binding precedent in the Eleventh Circuit. Bonner v. City
        of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1207 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc).
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        21-14214               Opinion of the Court                         11

        “represented merely an alternate legal theory for a recovery identi-
        cal to that sought by Count One” and the plaintiﬀ “would be enti-
        tled to recover its losses through indemniﬁcation only once, at
        most.” Id. The key to our analysis was whether the relief sought
        substantially overlapped so that it could only be recovered once no
        matter the theory the plaintiﬀ ultimately prevailed on. Because it
        did, the counts were not separable. See also In re Se. Banking, 69 F.3d
        at 1547 (“[I]f the possible recoveries under various portions of the
        complaint are mutually exclusive, or substantially overlap, then
        they are not separable claims.”).
                In this case, the district court’s order contained no analysis
        of whether Scott’s tortious interference count is separable from the
        other three counts against Centurion. It is not. Scott’s intentional
        interference count seeks substantially the same, mutually exclusive
        relief as the relief sought in the other three dismissed counts: com-
        pensatory damages to recoup her losses from being illegally ﬁred.
        Scott can only recover these compensatory damages once under
        any of the theories that she presents. This means that, for present
        purposes, the counts are not separable. See id. Indeed, her com-
        plaint included only a single “prayer of relief ” that did not draw
        any distinction between the relief sought for the diﬀerent counts
        alleged.
              We acknowledge that Florida law permits punitive damages
        on the tortious interference count and those damages are not
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        12                         Opinion of the Court                       21-14214

                                                       2
        available on the whistleblower counts. But this does not change
        the calculus. Separability hinges on whether the relief sought “sub-
        stantially overlap[s],” not on whether it is identical. See id. The
        bulk of the relief Scott seeks -- compensatory damages for being
        illegally ﬁred -- substantially overlaps, and the complaint does not
        distinguish between the relief sought on each count. Moreover,
        without ultimately deciding the question, we are exceedingly skep-
        tical that an award of punitive damages would be appropriate here.
        Such an award requires that “the tort [] be committed in an outra-
        geous manner or with fraud, malice, wantonness or oppression.”
        Imperial Majesty Cruise Line, LLC v. Weitnauer Duty Free, Inc., 987
        So. 2d 706, 708 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008) (citation and quotation marks
        omitted). At least on the record developed thus far, there is nothing
        that supports such a ﬁnding here.
               In addition to seeking substantially overlapping relief, all
        four counts also stem from the same core set of facts: according to
        Scott, she complained about dangerous problems she identiﬁed in
        Centurion’s prisons related to hiring unlicensed personnel to per-
        form tasks that could only be performed by licensed personnel and
        about improperly logging a medication used to treat hepatitis C.
        In response to her complaints, APC and Centurion wrongfully

        2
         At oral argument, counsel for Scott suggested that the relief available under
        the whistleblower and tortious interference counts also differs in that injunc-
        tive relief is available on the former but not the latter. As a matter of Florida
        law, counsel was mistaken. See Dade Enters. v. Wometco Theatres, Inc., 119 Fla.
        70, 74 (1935) (explaining that injunctive relief may be available as a remedy for
        tortious interference).
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        21-14214               Opinion of the Court                         13

        harmed her by ﬁring her or causing her to be ﬁred. Whether Cen-
        turion’s complaints to APC are characterized as “tortious interfer-
        ence” or “retaliation” does not change the nature of Scott’s claimed
        injury or the damages she seeks. Because the tortious interference
        count is not separable from the dismissed counts, there is no ﬁnal
        judgment for us to review with respect to Centurion and we do not
        have jurisdiction to hear Scott’s appeal as to that defendant.
                                          B.
               On to the second Rule 54(b) requirement. The second Rule
        54(b) requirement bars a court from entertaining an interlocutory
        appeal unless “the court expressly determines that there is no just
        reason for delay” in certifying the district court’s order as final and
        immediately appealable. FED. R. CIV. P. 54(b). Because there was
        no final judgment against Centurion and we do not have jurisdic-
        tion over Scott’s appeal against that defendant, we only analyze this
        second requirement for APC.
                In determining whether there is just reason to delay, “a dis-
        trict court must take into account judicial administrative interests
        as well as the equities involved. Consideration of the former is nec-
        essary to assure that application of the Rule eﬀectively preserves
        the historic federal policy against piecemeal appeals.” Curtiss-
        Wright, 446 U.S. at 8 (citation and quotation marks omitted). “The
        federal concept of sound judicial administration and eﬃciency will
        not normally be furthered by ‘hav[ing] piecemeal appeals that re-
        quire two (or more) three-judge panels to familiarize themselves
        with a given case, instead of having the trial judge, who sits alone
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        14                     Opinion of the Court                  21-14214

        and is intimately familiar with the whole case, revisit a portion of
        the case if he or she has erred in part and that portion is overturned
        following the adjudication of the whole case.’” Ebrahimi, 114 F.3d
        at 167 (quoting Harriscom Svenska AB v. Harris Corp., 947 F.2d 627,
        631 (2d Cir. 1991)).
                The district court did not “clearly and cogently articulat[e],”
        id. at 166, why it found no just reason for delay, so we cannot defer
        to its determination; rather, we are required to “assess whether any
        obvious reasons support entry of the Rule 54(b) certification,” id.
        at 167. As we see it, no obvious reasons do. “[W]hen a sound basis
        for the certification is not obvious and the district court merely re-
        peats the language of the Rule or frames its certification in conclu-
        sory terms, we have little choice but to dismiss the appeal for lack
        of a final judgment.” Id. at 166–67. That is all we have in this case.
        The district court’s analysis does no more than recite the legal
        standard and offer the conclusion that it has been met. The court’s
        analysis reads this way in full:
               Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) provides that
               when, as here, an action presents more than one
               claim or involves multiple parties, the court may di-
               rect entry of judgment as to one or more, but fewer
               than all, claims or parties, but “only if the court ex-
               pressly determines that there is no just reason for de-
               lay.” I expressly determine that there is no just reason
               for delay and thus direct entry of judgment on the
               claims resolved by this order.
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        21-14214               Opinion of the Court                       15

        This alone offers sufficient reason to find the Rule 54(b) certifica-
        tion improper.
               But there is more. We conclude that there are substantial
        reasons to delay resolving Scott’s appeal of her whistleblower
        counts against APC. Scott’s whistleblower counts against Centu-
        rion and APC are identical. It makes good sense that appeals of an
        order dismissing those counts should be heard together. But be-
        cause there is no final judgment against Centurion, we lack the
        power to adjudicate those counts against Centurion at this time. If
        we were to adjudicate the same counts leveled against Centurion
        and APC separately, our efforts would be wholly duplicative and
        waste substantial judicial resources. Moreover, we run the risk of
        inconsistent rulings if the panel hearing the appeal of the whistle-
        blower counts against APC were to reach a different result than the
        panel hearing the appeal of the same whistleblower counts against
        Centurion. Thus, we also lack jurisdiction over Scott’s appeal of
        her whistleblower counts against APC.
                                          C.
                Finally, we turn to Centurion’s cross appeal of the district
        court’s denial of summary judgment on Scott’s tortious interfer-
        ence count. Because the district court’s denial of summary judg-
        ment is not a final judgment, Centurion seeks our review under 28
        U.S.C. § 1292(b), which is one of the statutory exceptions to the
        final judgment rule. Section 1292(b) reads this way:
              When a district judge, in making in a civil action an
              order not otherwise appealable under this section,
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        16                      Opinion of the Court                   21-14214

               shall be of the opinion that such order involves a con-
               trolling question of law as to which there is substan-
               tial ground for diﬀerence of opinion and that an im-
               mediate appeal from the order may materially ad-
               vance the ultimate termination of the litigation, he
               shall so state in writing in such order. The Court of
               Appeals which would have jurisdiction of an appeal
               of such action may thereupon, in its discretion, per-
               mit an appeal to be taken from such order, if applica-
               tion is made to it within ten days after the entry of the
               order: Provided, however, That application for an ap-
               peal hereunder shall not stay proceedings in the dis-
               trict court unless the district judge or the Court of
               Appeals or a judge thereof shall so order.
        28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) (emphasis added). The statute plainly requires
        a party to apply to the court of appeals for permission to appeal
        within ten days of the district court’s order. Id.; see also McFarlin v.
        Conseco Servs., LLC, 381 F.3d 1251, 1253 (11th Cir. 2004). But Cen-
        turion never made any such application to this Court. The failure
        to file a timely application for review is a jurisdictional bar that pre-
        cludes our review. Local No. 1279 v. Alabama, 453 F.2d 922, 924–25
        (5th Cir. 1972). We therefore lack jurisdiction over Centurion’s
        cross appeal too.
               DISMISSED.