Schenectady, N.Y.-based St. Peter’s Health Partners Medical Associates has asked a court for a temporary restraining order to stop Ellis Medicine from soliciting its cardiologists, escalating an ongoing noncompete lawsuit between the two health systems, News10 reported Sept. 14.
Ellis sued St. Peter’s in August, alleging the physician group’s noncompete agreements improperly block 27 cardiologists from joining Ellis once their employment contracts end. The dispute traces back to June, when the two systems ended six years of merger talks, according to News10. Ellis points to a provision in the original professional services agreement stating Ellis would be free to contract with the cardiologists once the agreement terminates or expires.
St. Peter’s contends a separate provision of that same agreement bars Ellis from soliciting its employees.
“We recently learned that, since giving notice to Ellis of SPHPMA’s application, more than a dozen cardiologists have submitted notices terminating their employments with SPHPMA. We know at least some of the cardiologists intend on joining Ellis which, in light of the circumstances, is clearly the fruit of Ellis’s poisoned ‘recruitment campaign,'” St. Peter’s attorneys at Rivkin Radler said in a statement shared with News10.
Ellis’s attorneys at Nixon Peabody disputed that characterization in their own statement: “Ellis has not admit[ed] to a recruitment campaign. That is SPHPMA’s phrase, which Ellis quoted to show that Ellis’s alleged actions ‘only began after SPHPMA provided Ellis formal notice of the termination’ of the PSA.”
Ellis must file its opposition to the restraining order by Sept. 18, and a judge is expected to rule on the request Sept. 21, according to News10.
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