Late-Discovered Emails Open The Door To Chapter 93A Counterclaim

In Iatric Systems, Inc. v. Hamilton Health Sciences Corp., the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts permitted a late amendment to the defendant’s answer to assert a Chapter 93A counterclaim. The dispute arose from a long-running contractual relationship involving health care information technology services, centered on the scope of a 2017 licensing agreement. During discovery, the defendant uncovered internal communications that it contended evidenced bad-faith conduct by the plaintiff and moved to extend discovery and amend its answer. Applying Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 15’s “good cause” standard, the court credited the defendant’s explanation that the factual basis for the claim was previously unavailable, finding the delay attributable to newly discovered evidence rather than a lack of diligence or gamesmanship.