On Tuesday a case was filed in South Dakota federal court by Valued Pharmacy Services of the Midwest against Avera Health Plans, Inc. The case is regarding a breach of non disclosure agreement for proprietary data.
According to the complaint, Valued Pharmacy entered into a consulting relationship with Avera Health Plans for the purposes of setting up a pharmacy benefit plan discount system that would cut costs for Avera’s coverage of medications.
The plaintiff alleges that pursuant to representations from the defendants, the plaintiff negotiated certain discounts, set up a repricing plan with the pharmacy that resulted in savings for the defendant, and also created various notification letters and other products for the defendants.
However, the plaintiff stated that the defendant declined to sign a master services agreement to continue the relationship and instead started using all of the work product without paying for it, including the notification letters that still had the plaintiffs name and phone number on them. The plaintiff argues this violated the non-disclosure agreement that was signed at the beginning of the relationship and allows the defendant to reap the benefits without payment.
Plaintiff is suing for fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of contract, quantum meruit, and unjust enrichment. Plaintiff is represented by Robins Kaplan LLP and Armstrong Teasdale LLP.
