Amicus Curiae Brief of Law Professor Suzette Malveaux in Support of Plaintiff the Estate of Henrietta Lacks’s Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Second Amended Complaint: Estate of Henrietta Lacks v. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

Plaintiff alleges that Thermo Fisher was conferred the benefit of Henrietta Lacks’s cell line, that Thermo Fisher knew of this benefit, and that Thermo Fisher unfairly retained the benefit without providing payment to the Lacks family. Moreover, Plaintiff contends that this wrongful conduct has been going on for years, within the three-year limitations period and beforehand. Thus, on the face of the complaint, Plaintiff’s unjust enrichment claims would be viable. Alternatively, Plaintiff may proceed on a theory that an unjust enrichment claim does not ripen until an accumulation of wrongful acts has occurred, which pushes accrual within the limitations period.