Hairy Cell Leukemia Case Study

• The plaintiff is John Moore, who underwent treatment for hairy cell leukemia at the Medical Center of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA Medical Center).
• The five defendants are: (1) Dr. David W. Golde, a physician, who attended Moore at UCLA Medical Center; (2) the Regents of the University of California (Regents) 3) Shirley G. Quan, a researcher employed by the Regents; (4) Genetics Institute and (5) Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corporation and related entities (Sandoz).
• October 8, 1976, Golde recommended that Moore's spleen be removed.
• Upon removal for Plaintiff’s spleen as part of the treatment for his leukemia, defendant, physicians and medical center discovered Plaintiff’s cells were rare. The rareness of Plaintiff’s

Over this period of years, his doctor removed blood and other bodily fluids.
• August of 1979, Defendant Golde used Plaintiff’s cells to create a cell line and made profit from it.
• Soon after, on January 30, 1981, Defendant, Regents of University of California applied for a patent on cell line and listed Golde and Quan as the inventors.
• On March 20, 1984, the patent was issued. Defendants Golde and Quan were named as the inventors and Defendant, Regents, were named as assignee.
• Genetics and Sandoz were added due to their successive investments in the cell line
• Plaintiff (Moore) sues for breach of fiduciary duty due to the Defendants omission of their interest financially with Plaintiff’s cells. Plaintiff sues for lack of informed consent and for conversion.

Procedural History:
Trial Court dismissed the complaint. Court of Appeals reversed it. California Supreme Court reversed Court of Appeals

Issue:

• Whether Plaintiff had ownership in the removed cells such that he could file suit for conversion

• Whether Plaintiff has stated a cause of action against his physician and other defendants for using his cells for medical research without his permission