Mark Knox v. Medtronic, PLC, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama adopts the Magistrate Judge’s recommendation and dismisses Mark Knox’s action against Medtronic, PLC, and related defendants. Counts II, III, and IV are dismissed with prejudice as time-barred, Count V is dismissed with prejudice because vicarious liability is not an independent cause of action, and Count I is dismissed without prejudice after the court declines supplemental jurisdiction.

Holdings

1. The court granted Knox's motion to accept his objections out of time.
2. Counts II, III, and IV were time-barred, and dismissal with prejudice was appropriate because amendment would be futile.
3. Vicarious liability and respondeat superior are theories of liability, not independent causes of action; an underlying tort must be alleged to support vicarious liability.
4. The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Count I, the state-law assault-and-battery claim, after dismissal of the sole federal claim.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court should grant leave to file Knox's objections to the magistrate judge's recommendation out of time.
2. Whether Counts II, III, and IV were time-barred.
3. Whether Alabama law recognizes vicarious liability or respondeat superior as an independent cause of action absent an adequately pleaded underlying tort.
4. Whether the district court should continue to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law assault-and-battery claim after dismissal of the sole federal claim.

Disposition

dismissed