Defendant's Attorney: Jeffrey J. Wetzel and Steven L. Ettinger

Description: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers represented Plaintiffs who sued Defendants on a civil rights violation theory.


Plaintiffs Cherell Harrington and Deserae Cook filed a Complaint in Civil Action in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on behalf of themselves and two putative classes, alleging various claims against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (“UPMC”) and Allegheny County via its Office of Children, Youth and Families arising out of UPMC's purported disclosure of their confidential medical information to AC-CYF for the purpose of targeting them with highly intrusive, humiliating and coercive child abuse investigations starting before taking their newborn babies home from UPMC's hospitals shortly after childbirth.

Defendants removed the case to this Court and Plaintiffs subsequently filed an Amended Class Action Complaint alleging several claims against UPMC and AC-CYF pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations of the 1st, 4th, and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution, a claim against AC-CYF for violations of the Pennsylvania Constitution, and Pennsylvania common law claims against UPMC for breaches of physician-patient confidentiality.

Defendants moved to dismiss Plaintiffs' complaint.

Outcome:
Defendants' Motions to Dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) are GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. Counts Four and Five of the Amended Complaint are dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Count Four is dismissed without prejudice to amendment with sufficient facts to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and Count Five is dismissed with prejudice. To the extent that Harrington requests monetary damages in Count Seven, such request for relief is also dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, thus limiting the request for relief in Count Seven to non-monetary relief only. Defendants' motions are denied in all other respects.

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Defendant's Experts:

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