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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
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3 Months Ended |
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Sep. 30, 2012
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| Commitments and Contingencies (see Note 7) | |
| COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Legal Matters
Providing pharmacy services entails an inherent risk of medical and professional malpractice liability. The Company may be named as a defendant in such lawsuits and become subject to the attendant risk of substantial damage awards. The Company believes it possesses adequate professional and medical malpractice liability insurance coverage. There can be no assurance that the Company will not be sued, that any such lawsuit will not exceed our insurance coverage, or that it will be able to maintain such coverage at acceptable costs and on favorable terms.
From time to time, the Company may be involved in various claims, lawsuits, disputes with third parties, actions involving allegations of discrimination or breach of contract actions incidental to the normal operations of the business. In the opinion of management, the Company is not currently involved in any litigation which it believes could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial position or results of operations.
On March 18, 2011, a lawsuit was filed by Tim Chandler, Jodi Marshall, Christie Garner, the Estate of Thomas Pike, Jr., and Angie Hernandez in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Multnomah County against Payette Clinics, P.C., Scott Pecora, Kelly Bell, Penny Steers and our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Assured Pharmacies Northwest, Inc. and Assured Pharmacy Gresham, Inc. The lawsuit arises from allegations that nurse practitioners at Payette Clinics, P.C. prescribed the five plaintiffs controlled substances in amounts that were excessive under the appropriate medical standard of care. Only one of the plaintiffs, Tim Chandler, brought claims against our subsidiaries. Mr. Chandler’s claims
against our subsidiaries were for negligence on the basis of allegations that our subsidiaries knew or had reason to know that the prescriptions fell below the standard of care applicable to the prescription of such controlled substances but nonetheless filled the prescriptions. The plaintiffs, as a whole, submitted a prayer for $7,500,000 in damages. Mr. Chandler only seeks “an amount to be proven at trial” for noneconomic damages and unnecessary expenses. Management believes that the allegations against our subsidiaries are without merit and plans to defend this claim. We have $2,000,000 in insurance coverage for claims relating to pharmacy negligence. This lawsuit has been stayed a result of a co-defendant in this lawsuit (Payette Clinics, P.C.) having filed for bankruptcy. Although the bankruptcy has been discharged and the
automatic stay lifted, the state court stay on this case has not yet been lifted. |