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Law360 (November 30, 2020, 3:17 PM EST) -- A Boston-area defense attorney has filed a lawsuit seeking to unearth documents showing what the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid for personal protective equipment during the springtime COVID-19 surge, information that could be relevant in criminal price-gouging cases.
Susan Winkler of Winkler Law LLC said in a Freedom of Information Act complaint filed on Thanksgiving that the VA has stonewalled her requests since early September to reveal the prices it paid for PPE at facilities in Massachusetts, Texas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois and Maine.
She argued that getting a sense of the going rate for PPE during the pandemic's early days can set a benchmark for what might constitute price gouging, something the U.S. Department of Justice has devoted a nationwide task force to combat since March.
"The question of what conduct might constitute price gouging is determined, at least in part, by market prices for PPE at the time sales were made to various clients," Winkler wrote in her complaint.
"More than two months since service of the six FOIA requests, Winkler Law has received no communication from the VA whatsoever, and no record or document has been provided in response to its FOIA requests," the complaint adds.
Winkler declined to confirm to Law360 whether she is representing someone accused or suspected of price-gouging. She is not publicly listed as counsel on any such cases in Massachusetts federal court.
Winkler is seeking records from various dates starting in April and continuing until June. That time period was marked by higher prices and scarce supplies for items like N-95 masks, protective face shields, gowns, and other items, the complaint notes.
"Market prices of PPE increased significantly between March and June 2020, during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, as various governmental entities and health care providers competed with one another to buy the necessary PPE for their staff and patients," the complaint states.
Winkler argued that learning what the VA was paying for PPE back then is in the public interest "to ensure that the conduct by the current targets of the USAO's investigation is fairly and justly evaluated in the light of the actual market prices for PPE at the times at which PPE was sold to VA Medical Centers and others."
Winkler declined to comment Monday and a representative for the VA did not immediately return a message left seeking comment.
Winkler's Quincy, Massachusetts, firm has been involved in several recent high-profile cases. She is representing a retired California police captain working security operations for eBay who admitted to participating in a scheme to terrorize a Massachusetts couple over their blog's critical coverage of the company. She also represented a former UCLA men's soccer coach who pled guilty after being charged with collecting $200,000 in bribes from parents seeking to have their children accepted into the selective California university.
Winkler Law LLC is represented in house by Susan G. Winkler.
Counsel information for the VA was not immediately available.
The case is Winkler Law LLC vs. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, case number 1:20-cv-12125, in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
--Additional reporting by Brian Dowling. Editing by Rebecca Flanagan.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
