New York City Transit Authority v. Express Scripts, Inc.

What the order did

Judge Furman issued an order attaching three trial documents: the juror questionnaire used during jury selection on March 13, 2023; the draft jury instructions considered at the March 21, 2023 charge conference; and the final jury instructions delivered to the jury on March 22, 2023.

Case background described in the attached instructions

The materials state that the New York City Transit Authority and Express Scripts, Inc. had a contract under which Express Scripts served as the Transit Authority’s pharmacy benefits manager from 2016 to 2019. The Transit Authority claimed that Express Scripts breached the contract by failing to investigate, inform the Transit Authority about, and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse related to compound-drug prescriptions. The materials also describe claims concerning processing non-Federal Drug Administration-approved or otherwise uncovered prescription-drug claims, although one version of the final instructions states that the non-compound prescription claim was no longer part of the case and should not be considered by the jury.

Jury questionnaire

The questionnaire asked prospective jurors about possible conflicts, hardships, familiarity with the parties, lawyers, witnesses, transportation agencies, pharmacy-benefit managers, lawsuits, insurance fraud, compound-drug prescriptions, and their ability to serve fairly and impartially. It also asked individual jurors about matters such as residence, education, employment, public-transit use, news sources, organizational memberships, and prior jury service.

Final jury instructions

The final instructions told jurors that they alone would decide the facts and that they must apply the law stated by the court. They explained the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, meaning that a fact is more likely true than not. The instructions also addressed evidence, witness credibility, expert testimony, corporate employees’ knowledge and conduct, contract interpretation, damages, mitigation of damages, and avoiding duplicate recovery.

For the contract claim, the instructions required the Transit Authority to prove that Express Scripts breached the contract, that the Transit Authority performed its own obligations, and that Express Scripts’s breach caused damages. The proposed verdict forms asked the jury to decide whether Express Scripts breached specified contract provisions, whether the Transit Authority performed its obligations, whether damages resulted, the amount of damages, and whether damages should be reduced because the Transit Authority failed to mitigate its losses.

Disposition and limits of the opinion

The March 23 order did not grant or deny a motion, enter judgment, decide liability, award damages, or state the jury’s verdict. It only attached the trial materials. The opinion text does not report the outcome of the trial.