Cornerstone Health Care suit rejected by NC court

The North Carolina Business Court just rejected a lawsuit filed by Cornerstone Health Care. The lawsuit was filed against a pair of doctors Urologist Marshall Hall and orthopedic surgeon Slade Moore, and accused them of violating a noncompete agreement by leaving Cornerstone to work at other nearby practices. Hall is currently employed by UNC Regional Physicians, while Moore is working for the Novant Health practice. Both practices fall within the 20-mile radius specified by their noncompete agreement. 

The two doctors were part a group of approximately two dozen medical professionals who left Cornerstone earlier this year, allegedly over disagreements and concerns with the direction the business was heading and decisions it had made.

Cornerstone's attorneys pushed for the case to be moved to the North Carolina Business Court, a bench created specifically to handle complex business cases in the state. Justifying this push, they argued that the noncompete breach involved trade secrets and intellectual property disputes.

Judge Jim Gale returned the case to the Guilford Superior Court, stating that it failed to meet the requirement of being a "complex business case" and that there were no trade secrets or intellectual property infringement present in the suit.

This is the second noncompete lawsuit Cornerstone has filed against Moore and Hall. The first, filed in March, was thrown out by Superior Court Judge Susan Bray claiming that "there has been no showing by Cornerstone that it has or is likely to suffer irreparable harm, which would justify the extraordinary measure of injunctive relief."

No matter where you are with your business, it's always a good idea to retain a qualified business attorney to ensure that your organization's rights are always protected.

Categorised in: Business Law, Litigation

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