Daphne Smith v. RecordQuest LLC ( 2021 )


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  •                                In the
    United States Court of Appeals
    For the Seventh Circuit
    ____________________
    No. 19-2084
    DAPHNE SMITH,
    Plaintiff-Appellant,
    v.
    RECORDQUEST, LLC,
    Defendant-Appellee.
    ____________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court for the
    Eastern District of Wisconsin.
    No. 2:19-cv-00025 — Lynn Adelman, Judge.
    ____________________
    ARGUED JANUARY 13, 2021 — DECIDED FEBRUARY 26, 2021
    ____________________
    Before FLAUM, BRENNAN, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.
    BRENNAN, Circuit Judge. Federal courts defer to state courts
    on state-law issues, but not without reservation. In this case,
    Daphne Smith claimed RecordQuest, LLC charged excessive
    fees when satisfying her request for health records. So Smith
    sued, alleging violation of Wisconsin’s health records statute
    and unjust enrichment. The district court dismissed Smith’s
    claims. Soon after, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals decided a
    2                                                          No. 19-2084
    case in which it expressly disagreed with the district court’s
    analysis of Smith’s statutory claim.
    Although we have our own views on the proper interpre-
    tation of Wisconsin’s health records statute, we defer to the
    decision of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in these circum-
    stances. We reverse the district court’s judgment on Smith’s
    statutory claim but affirm on different grounds the district
    court’s judgment on Smith’s unjust enrichment claim.
    I. Background
    Daphne Smith suffered an injury from a car accident in
    May 2014 and retained an attorney to represent her for a per-
    sonal injury action.1 As part of that representation, Smith au-
    thorized her attorney to obtain her health care information.
    The attorney requested Smith’s medical records from Mil-
    waukee Health Services, Inc. (“MHS”), on three different oc-
    casions between September 2014 and March 2015. But health
    care records company RecordQuest, LLC, not MHS, an-
    swered these requests and charged Smith’s attorney (who
    paid on her behalf) two different fees—a $20.96 handling fee
    and a $8.26 certification fee—each time.
    Smith later brought a class action in state court, which
    RecordQuest removed to federal court. Smith alleged these
    charged fees contravened the permissible fee schedule set out
    in 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.83
    (3f)(b) for health care records requests
    and resulted in the unjust enrichment of RecordQuest.
    1 On a motion to dismiss, we treat all factual allegations as true and
    view them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, Smith. Menzies v.
    Seyfarth Shaw LLP, 
    943 F.3d 328
    , 332 (7th Cir. 2019).
    No. 19-2084                                                         3
    RecordQuest moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil
    Procedure 12(b)(6).
    The district court, primarily by applying agency princi-
    ples, dismissed both of Smith’s claims. Smith v. RecordQuest,
    LLC, 
    380 F. Supp. 3d 838
     (E.D. Wis. 2019). On Smith’s statu-
    tory claim, the district court observed that § 146.83(3f)(b) im-
    poses a duty upon only “health care providers.” Id. at 842.
    RecordQuest is not a “health care provider” but is the agent
    of a health care provider, MHS. Id. For the district court, “no
    principle of agency law holds that a principal’s liability is im-
    puted to the agent when the agent performs the act that re-
    sults in the principal’s liability.” Id. at 843. So the district court
    did not hold RecordQuest liable under § 146.83(3f)(b). Id. at
    842–44. Even so, the district court concluded that this reason-
    ing did not affect the liability of a principal like MHS, leaving
    no remedial gap for a plaintiff like Smith. Id. at 842, 844.
    The district court also rejected Smith’s reliance on 
    Wis. Stat. §§ 146.84
    (1)(b) and 990.001(9). That § 146.84(1)(b) and
    (bm) provide a cause of action against “[a]ny person … who
    violates § 146.82 or 146.83” did not change that the statutory
    duty, and therefore the liability, always lies with the principal
    and not the agent. Id. at 844. Moreover, § 990.001(9)—“[i]f a
    statute requires an act to be done which may legally be done
    by an agent, such requirement includes all such acts when
    done by an authorized agent”—simply means that “the
    agent’s acts are the principal’s acts[,]” so an agent may fulfill
    a principal’s statutory duty. Id. at 843–44. The district court
    also noted that its holding would be no different than if Smith
    sued an MHS billing clerk (who, like RecordQuest, is not a
    health care provider). Id. at 844.
    4                                                  No. 19-2084
    Smith’s unjust enrichment claim failed for the same rea-
    sons. The district court held that any excessive fees—or, un-
    just benefit—that Smith allegedly conferred to RecordQuest
    belonged to MHS as RecordQuest’s principal. Id. at 845. Even
    if RecordQuest kept the excessive fees, it would be MHS who
    conferred the benefit to RecordQuest because “under its
    agency agreement with MHS, the fee was RecordQuest’s com-
    pensation for rendering records-retrieval services to MHS.”
    Id. Additionally, no inequity would result from allowing
    RecordQuest to keep the excessive fees as Smith could always
    sue MHS directly, according to the district court. Id.
    Two other conclusions by the district court merit mention.
    That court declined to consider RecordQuest’s argument that
    the statute of limitations barred Smith’s statutory and unjust
    enrichment claims. Id. at 841. And it did not sua sponte grant
    Smith leave to amend her complaint because she had not con-
    tended she could cure the legal defects in her claims. Id. at
    845–46.
    II. Discussion
    We consider (A) whether RecordQuest can, as an agent of
    MHS, be liable for excessive fees under § 146.83(3f)(b); (B)
    whether alleged violations of that statute form the basis for an
    unjust enrichment claim against RecordQuest; and (C) if
    Smith’s claims are time barred.
    “Our review of a district court’s grant of a motion to dis-
    miss for failure to state a claim is de novo, and we may affirm
    on any basis in the record.” UWM Student Ass’n v. Lovell, 
    888 F.3d 854
    , 859 (7th Cir. 2018).
    No. 19-2084                                                     5
    A. Excessive Fees under 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.83
    (3f)(b)
    Wisconsin law contains detailed statutory provisions gov-
    erning health care records, which require that “if a person
    requests copies of a patient’s health care records, provides in-
    formed consent, and pays the applicable fees … , the health
    care provider shall provide the person making the request
    copies of the requested records.” 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.83
    (3f)(a).
    This duty applies to twenty-six different classes of medical
    professionals listed in 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.81
    (1). In addition,
    § 146.83(3f)(b) sets forth a fee schedule and prohibits health
    care providers from charging more than what is listed as per-
    missible.
    Under these statutes, liability arises for “[a]ny person …
    who violates § 146.82 or 146.83” either willfully or negli-
    gently. 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.84
    (1)(b), (bm). As for damages, willful
    and negligent violations vary only in degree. Compare 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.84
    (1)(b) (providing that willful violations result in
    “actual damages to that person, exemplary damages of not
    more than $25,000 and costs and reasonable actual attorney
    fees”), with 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.84
    (1)(bm) (providing that negli-
    gent violations result in “actual damages to that person, ex-
    emplary damages of not more than $1,000 and costs and rea-
    sonable actual attorney fees”).
    Wisconsin law also codifies certain interpretive canons
    and rules. See 
    Wis. Stat. § 990.001
     (“In construing Wisconsin
    laws the following rules shall be observed unless construction
    in accordance with a rule would produce a result inconsistent
    with the manifest intent of the legislature … .”). One such
    rule, entitled “Acts by agents,” states: “If a statute requires an
    act to be done which may legally be done by an agent, such
    6                                                     No. 19-2084
    requirement includes all such acts when done by an author-
    ized agent.” 
    Wis. Stat. § 990.001
    (9).
    Smith’s statutory excessive fees claim requires us to inter-
    pret these Wisconsin health care records statutes. When we sit
    in diversity and interpret state law, we must exercise care and
    caution, because “[w]hen interpreting state law, a federal
    court’s task is to determine how the state’s highest court
    would rule.” Rodas v. Seidlin, 
    656 F.3d 610
    , 626 (7th Cir. 2011).
    “In the absence of guiding decisions by the state’s highest
    court, we consult and follow the decisions of intermediate ap-
    pellate courts unless there is a convincing reason to predict
    the state’s highest court would disagree.” ADT Sec. Servs., Inc.
    v. Lisle-Woodridge Fire Prot. Dist., 
    672 F.3d 492
    , 498 (7th Cir.
    2012). So while a state supreme court’s rule would control, a
    state appellate court’s decision can provide controlling guid-
    ance as well. See In re Zimmer, NexGen Knee Implant Prod. Liab.
    Litig., 
    884 F.3d 746
    , 751 (7th Cir. 2018). At bottom, “we must
    interpret the law as we think Wisconsin’s courts would.”
    Winebow, Inc. v. Capitol-Husting Co. Inc., 
    867 F.3d 862
    , 868 (7th
    Cir. 2017), certified question answered and remanded, 
    2018 WI 60
    ,
    
    381 Wis. 2d 732
    .
    The Wisconsin Supreme Court has not addressed liability
    for health care records companies or third parties under
    § 146.83(3f)(b), but the Wisconsin Court of Appeals has done
    so. In Townsend v. ChartSwap, LLC, that appeals court ex-
    pressly disagreed with the district court’s analysis in this case.
    
    2020 WI App 79
    , ¶¶ 11–12 (Wis. Ct. App. 2020) (citing and dis-
    tinguishing the district court decision in Smith, 380 F. Supp.
    3d at 844), petition for cert. filed, 2019AP2034 (Dec. 16, 2020). To
    the appeals court, the district court’s decision “not only un-
    dermines the underlying purpose of WIS. STAT.
    No. 19-2084                                                     7
    § 146.83(3f)(b), which is to protect patients from being
    charged excessive fees for access to information … , but it also
    misinterprets WIS. STAT. § 990.001(9) because the statute does
    not specifically deal with the imputation of liability.” Id. at
    835. The appeals court concluded that “agents of health care
    providers have no greater power to charge fees in excess of
    those permitted by § 146.83(3f)(b) than the providers them-
    selves.” Id. Fearing a gap in the remedial scheme, the appeals
    court held that ChartSwap, a health care records company like
    RecordQuest, fell within § 146.83(3f)(b) as an agent of Mil-
    waukee Radiologists, a health care provider like MHS. Id. at
    736. On appeal, Smith urges us to follow ChartSwap, and
    RecordQuest asks us to disregard it.
    Given that we are to “consult and follow the decisions of
    intermediate appellate courts[,]” ADT Sec. Servs., Inc., 672
    F.3d at 498, we defer here to ChartSwap. But we do so with
    pause. The district court here offered sound points rejecting
    liability for health care records companies under
    § 146.83(3f)(b), some of which we echo.
    In ChartSwap, the appeals court’s view of statutory pur-
    pose superseded the statutory text. See 
    2020 WI App 79
    , ¶ 14
    (“To allow a third-party to circumvent the statutory limitation
    on health care providers simply because it does not provide
    actual health care services would defeat the purpose of 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.83
    (3f)(b) … .”); but cf. Mohamad v. Palestinian Auth.,
    
    566 U.S. 459
    , 460 (2012) (“[P]etitioners’ purposive argument
    simply cannot overcome the force of the plain text.”). Under
    the text of the health records statute, RecordQuest is not a
    health care provider. Cf. 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.81
    (1) (listing twenty-
    six definitions for health care providers). And the text of
    § 146.83(3f)(b) imposes no duty upon agents of health care
    8                                                             No. 19-2084
    providers. Cf. State ex rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane Cnty.,
    
    2004 WI 58
    , ¶ 45, 
    271 Wis. 2d 633
    , 663 (noting that the
    Wisconsin Supreme Court has “repeatedly held that statutory
    interpretation ‘begins with the language of the statute. If the
    meaning of the statute is plain, we ordinarily stop the in-
    quiry’”) (quoting Seider v. O'Connell, 
    2000 WI 76
    , ¶ 43, 
    236 Wis. 2d 211
    , 232). The district court’s emphasis on the text of
    § 146.83(3f)(b) here is persuasive.
    The ChartSwap decision also unduly fears a loophole in the
    statutory remedy. Smith could have sued MHS directly, clos-
    ing any supposed gap in the remedial scheme that would re-
    sult from the district court’s interpretation. See RESTATEMENT
    (THIRD) OF AGENCY § 7.03(1) (2006) (“A principal is subject to
    direct liability to a third party harmed by an agent’s conduct
    when … the agent acts with actual authority or the principal
    ratifies the agent’s conduct and … the agent’s conduct, if that
    of the principal, would subject the principal to tort liabil-
    ity[.]”). Again, the district court’s reasoning here is sound.2
    We also interpret 
    Wis. Stat. § 990.001
    (9) differently than
    the appeals court did in ChartSwap. The Wisconsin Court of
    Appeals read § 990.001(9) as “codif[ying] the general rule of
    agency law, which is that if a statute requires a certain action,
    that requirement applies equally to a principal’s agents.”
    ChartSwap, 
    2020 WI App 79
    , ¶ 13. But like the district court,
    we read that interpretive rule—“[i]f a statute requires an act
    to be done which may legally be done by an agent, such
    2 Open questions, such as whether Wisconsin courts treat violations
    of 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.83
    (3f)(b) as torts, or whether a principal’s delegation of
    duty would allow it to avoid vicarious liability, provide even more reason
    for us to defer in a case like this.
    No. 19-2084                                                     9
    requirement includes all such acts when done by an author-
    ized agent”—to mean what it says: An agent may fulfill a
    principal’s statutory duty because the agent’s acts are the
    principal’s acts. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals in ChartSwap
    approvingly cited Rosecky v. Tomaszewski, 
    225 Wis. 438
    , 
    274 N.W. 259
     (1937). Yet that case appears to support the plain
    reading of this court and the district court. Rosecky, 274 N.W.
    at 261 (noting the predecessor statute to § 990.001(9) “pro-
    vides that when a statute requires an act to be done which
    may by law as well be done by an agent as by the principal,
    such requisition shall be construed to include all such acts
    when done by an agent”). This is to say that because an agent
    may fulfill a principal’s duty does not mean that the agent
    must be liable for statutory violations from that fulfillment.
    Any decision, state or federal, should meaningfully engage
    with these points.
    We flag these issues, yet do not decide them, for that is the
    role of state courts. Erie Railroad. v. Tompkins, 
    304 U.S. 64
    , 78
    (1938) (“[W]hether the law of the state shall be declared by its
    Legislature in a statute or by its highest court in a decision is
    not a matter of federal concern.”). Since Erie’s advent, federal
    courts and state courts often employ different interpretive
    methodologies. Compare ChartSwap, 
    2020 WI App 79
    , ¶ 14
    (noting a worry that the district court’s interpretation “would
    defeat the purpose of 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.83
    (3f)(b) in and of it-
    self”), with INTL FCStone Fin. Inc. v. Jacobson, 
    950 F.3d 491
    , 499
    (7th Cir. 2020) (“Plain text trumps purpose.”). This case is no
    exception. “But absent a conflict with the Constitution or a
    federal law, we cannot overturn established state precedent.
    The so-called ‘Erie guess’ is not an Erie veto.” Sanchelima Int’l,
    Inc. v. Walker Stainless Equip. Co., LLC, 
    920 F.3d 1141
    , 1146 (7th
    Cir. 2019). We may disagree with ChartSwap, but we cannot
    10                                                  No. 19-2084
    convincingly say that the Wisconsin Supreme Court would do
    the same. Cf. ADT Sec. Servs., Inc., 672 F.3d at 498. Our system
    of dual sovereignty is well served by a respectful dialogue be-
    tween state and federal courts. But deference to state courts
    does not prevent us from expressing our own views on state-
    law issues.
    We also do not conclude that certification of this question
    to the Wisconsin Supreme Court is the proper solution. That
    court may answer only certified questions “to which it ap-
    pears to the certifying court there is no controlling precedent
    in the decisions of the supreme court and the court of appeals of
    this state.” 
    Wis. Stat. § 821.01
     (emphasis added). This case may
    not even be certifiable under Wisconsin law because
    ChartSwap is controlling precedent under 
    Wis. Stat. § 821.01
    .
    Cf. Sanchelima Int’l, Inc., 920 F.3d at 1146 (noting that SEVENTH
    CIR. R. 52(a), which governs certification, relies upon the cer-
    tification rules of the forum state).
    At this time, ChartSwap guides us. Cf. Todd v. Societe Bic,
    S.A., 
    21 F.3d 1402
    , 1414 (7th Cir. 1994) (Flaum, J., dissenting)
    (“When this court sits in diversity, federalism requires us to
    enforce the substantive law of the forum state, even when we
    conclude we see a more enlightened path.”). We therefore re-
    verse the district court’s judgment as to Smith’s statutory vi-
    olation out of deference to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
    B. Unjust Enrichment and 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.83
    (3f)(b)
    In addition to her statutory claim, Smith asserts a
    common-law claim for unjust enrichment based on her
    payments to RecordQuest. Under Wisconsin law, unjust
    enrichment is an equitable doctrine that is “grounded on the
    moral principle that one who has received a benefit has a duty
    No. 19-2084                                                     11
    to make restitution where retaining such a benefit would be
    unjust.” Watts v. Watts, 
    137 Wis. 2d 506
    , 530 (1987). An unjust
    enrichment claim requires: “(1) a benefit conferred upon the
    defendant by the plaintiff, (2) appreciation by the defendant
    of the fact of such benefit, and (3) acceptance and retention by
    the defendant of the benefit, under circumstances such that it
    would be inequitable to retain the benefit without payment of
    the value thereof.” Lindquist Ford, Inc. v. Middleton Motors, Inc.,
    
    557 F.3d 469
    , 477 (7th Cir. 2009) (footnote omitted) (quoting
    Seegers v. Sprague, 
    70 Wis. 2d 997
    , 1004 (1975)).
    The district court dismissed Smith’s unjust enrichment
    claim primarily because MHS, as principal, would receive any
    benefit given to its agent, RecordQuest. But we affirm on dif-
    ferent grounds: Smith cannot resort to a remedy in equity (un-
    just enrichment) when she has a remedy at law
    (§ 146.83(3f)(b)). See UWM Student Ass’n, 888 F.3d at 859 (not-
    ing that, when reviewing a motion to dismiss, “we may affirm
    on any basis in the record”). In Wisconsin, a claim for unjust
    enrichment is typically a quasi-contractual claim that pro-
    vides an equitable remedy when no legal remedy exists. See
    Watts, 
    137 Wis. 2d at 530
     (“Because no express or implied in
    fact agreement exists between the parties, recovery based
    upon unjust enrichment is sometimes referred to as ‘quasi
    contract,’ or contract ‘implied in law’ rather than ‘implied in
    fact.’ Quasi contracts are obligations created by law to prevent
    injustice.”). Indeed, “[o]ne of the firmly-established rules of
    equity is that where a court of law can do as full justice to the
    parties as can be done in equity, a court of equity will not in-
    terfere.” Kramer v. Bohlman, 
    35 Wis. 2d 58
    , 65 (1967) (footnote
    omitted).
    12                                                            No. 19-2084
    So it is here. Under § 146.83(3f)(b), Smith has a remedy at
    law for any “injustice” that allegedly resulted from excessive
    payments she made to RecordQuest. The equitable remedy
    that Smith seeks in unjust enrichment is derivative of, and
    predicated upon, that statutory claim. Put differently, Smith
    unjustly enriched RecordQuest only if RecordQuest violated
    § 146.83(3f)(b). Allowing a double recovery for these inter-
    twined claims may itself be inequitable. We therefore affirm
    the district court’s dismissal of Smith’s claim for unjust en-
    richment.3
    C. Statute of Limitations for 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.83
    (3f)(b)
    and Unjust Enrichment
    On appeal, RecordQuest reasserts an argument that the
    district court declined to consider: that the two-year statute of
    limitations of 
    Wis. Stat. § 893.93
    (2)(a) bars both Smith’s statu-
    tory claim under § 146.83(3f)(b) and her unjust enrichment
    claim. For RecordQuest, Smith’s statutory and unjust
    3A later decision by this district court is also relevant. In Harwood v.
    Healthcare Tech. Enabled Servs., LLC, the court observed that City of
    Sheboygan v. Finnegan, 
    245 Wis. 349
    , 352 (1944), and Wright v. Eaton, 
    7 Wis. 595
    , 608 (1859), “support a different theory of liability against Change
    Services [a company analogous to RecordQuest]—one based on the
    common law of agency rather than on unjust enrichment.” No. 18-C-1941,
    
    2019 WL 10351680
    , at *2 (E.D. Wis. June 10, 2019). Specifically, “[i]f the
    health-records statute prohibited the health care providers from charging
    the fee, then the health care providers may not have been legally entitled
    to collect the fee. Thus, under cases such as City of Sheboygan or Wright,
    Change Services, as the agent of the health care providers, might be liable
    to the plaintiff for returning the fee.” 
    Id.
     We are not convinced that
    Wisconsin courts have recognized this specific cause of action under
    common law. But Smith has not pleaded it in her complaint, so we need
    not consider it here.
    No. 19-2084                                                              13
    enrichment claims rise and fall together; both are time barred
    because § 146.83(3f)(b) results in a “statute penalty,” trigger-
    ing the two-year limitation period of § 893.93(2)(a). That the
    excessive fees allegedly occurred between September 2014
    and March 2015 made Smith’s November 20, 2018 complaint
    untimely, so RecordQuest’s argument goes. According to
    Smith, however, 
    Wis. Stat. § 893.93
    (1)(a)’s six-year statute of
    limitations applies to her statutory claim under § 146.83(3f)(b)
    as no “statute penalty” under § 893.93(2)(a) follows. Smith
    also contends that her unjust enrichment claim, as a quasi-
    contract, falls under the six-year statute of limitations for con-
    tracts under 
    Wis. Stat. § 893.43
    (1).4
    We begin with the text of the two statutes of limitations at
    issue. Section 893.93(1)(a) creates a catch-all six-year limita-
    tions period for “[a]n action upon a liability created by statute
    when a different limitation is not prescribed by law.” Section
    893.93(2)(a) sets a two-year limitations period for “[a]n action
    by a private party upon a statute penalty, or forfeiture when
    the action is given to the party prosecuting therefor[e] and the
    state, except when the statute imposing it provides a different
    limitation.” Traditionally, Wisconsin courts have applied the
    two-year limitations period to actions that principally benefit
    the public at large (a “statute penalty”), and the six-year lim-
    itations period to actions that principally benefit the plaintiff
    at issue (no “statute penalty”). E.g., State ex rel. Leung v. City of
    Lake Geneva, 
    2003 WI App 129
    , ¶ 6, 
    265 Wis. 2d 674
    , 679 (Wis.
    App. Ct. 2003) (“The Wisconsin Supreme Court has held that
    the two-year statute of limitations applies where the action by
    4 Although the Wisconsin Legislature amended the relevant portions
    of § 893.93 in 2018, we apply the version in effect at the time that Smith’s
    claims first accrued in 2014 and 2015.
    14                                                    No. 19-2084
    a private party upon a statute penalty is for the benefit of the
    public, while the six-year statute of limitations applies when
    private individuals seek private relief.”).
    Smith’s § 146.83(3f)(b) claim is a private action for private
    relief, so it is timely under § 893.93(1)(a)’s six-year limitations
    period. Relief under § 146.83(3f)(b) entails “actual dam-
    ages[,]” “exemplary damages[,]” and “costs and reasonable
    actual attorney fees.” 
    Wis. Stat. § 146.84
    (1)(b), (bm). If Smith
    succeeds in her suit, these remedies would principally redress
    her injury from the allegedly excessive fees, not any harm
    done to the public. This cause of action, then, concerns a pri-
    vate individual in Smith seeking private relief against a pri-
    vate defendant in RecordQuest. No “statute penalty” results.
    Cf. State ex rel. Leung, 265 Wis. at 679 (“Complaints under the
    open meetings law are not brought in the individual capacity
    of the plaintiff but on behalf of the state. Thus, an action
    brought under the open meetings law falls squarely under
    § 893.93(2).”). Although § 146.84(1)(b) and (bm) authorize
    “exemplary damages” (i.e., punitive damages), that authori-
    zation is not the “statute penalty” talisman that RecordQuest
    claims. See Erdman v. Jovoco, Inc., 
    181 Wis. 2d 736
    , 762 (1994)
    (“Although the legislature has created an incentive for em-
    ployers to comply with the statute by providing double dam-
    ages, the statute is primarily intended to benefit individual
    employes [sic].”). What matters is who, on balance, the cause
    of action benefits—the private individual or the general pub-
    lic. Because § 146.83(3f)(b) is primarily private in nature and
    does not result in a “statute penalty” for the public’s benefit,
    the six-year limitations period of § 893.93(1)(a) applies here.
    Smith’s unjust enrichment claim is also timely. Wisconsin
    law imposes a six-year statute of limitations for contract-
    No. 19-2084                                                  15
    based claims: “[A]n action upon any contract, obligation, or
    liability, express or implied, including an action to recover
    fees for professional services, except those mentioned in
    § 893.40, shall be commenced within 6 years after the cause of
    action accrues or be barred.” 
    Wis. Stat. § 893.43
    (1). And as
    discussed, a claim for unjust enrichment is a quasi-contractual
    claim. Accordingly, Wisconsin courts have applied
    § 893.43(1)’s six-year limitations period for contract-based
    claims to quasi-contractual claims. See Boldt v. State, 
    101 Wis. 2d 566
    , 578 (1981) (holding that “a claim based on quasi-
    contract … was subject to the six-year statute of limitations of
    [§ 893.43]”). We do the same here and hold that Smith timely
    made her unjust enrichment claim.
    Smith’s final argument is that she should have been
    granted leave to amend her complaint to address the issues of
    Wisconsin agency law raised in Harwood, 
    2019 WL 10351680
    ,
    at *2. But “[w]here a plaintiff does not move to amend, the
    district court is under no obligation to amend the complaint
    sua sponte.” Cleveland v. Rotman, 
    297 F.3d 569
    , 575 (7th Cir.
    2002). Because Smith did not move for leave to amend her
    complaint, the district court committed no error by declining
    to grant leave sua sponte.
    III. Conclusion
    This case presents an interpretive question regarding Wis-
    consin’s health records statutes best resolved by that state’s
    courts. Out of deference to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in
    ChartSwap, we REVERSE the dismissal of Smith’s statutory
    claim under § 146.83(3b)(f). For the reasons given above, we
    AFFIRM the dismissal of Smith’s unjust enrichment claim.