West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Physician Partners of America and two of its top executives have agreed to pay $3.3 million to settle allegations that they violated noncompete contract provisions, according to a Justice News Flash report.
A Florida appellate court ruled Feb. 4 that Physician Partners of America must pay its competitors for hiring their former employees while they were under noncompete contract provisions.
Tampa, Fla.-based Surgery Center Holdings, a Surgery Partners affiliate, sued Physician Partners in December 2020 after it hired four of its physicians who had signed employment agreements that contained a noncompete provision and a nonsolicit provision, according to court documents.
Originally, the trial court denied Surgical Center Holding's efforts to bar the physicians from other employment, but the company appealed that decision and was able to prevent the four physicians from working with Physician Partners.
Surgery Center Holdings operates Tampa Pain Relief Center and Armenia Ambulatory Surgery Center.