Trinity Health Michigan and four Michigan-based orthopedic surgeons have filed a lawsuit against Associates of Grand Rapids, P.C. doing business as Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan alleging that it has engaged in anticompetitive and monopolistic behavior by enforcing its noncompetition clauses.
The following are listed as plaintiffs in the action: Trinity Health Michigan; IHA Health Services Corporation doing business as Trinity Health IHA Medical Group; Timothy Henne, M.D.; Timothy Lenters, M.D.; John (Jack) Healey, M.D.; and Geoffrey Sandman, M.D.
The four orthopedic surgeons are employed by the Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan, the largest orthopedic practice in the area. They are purportedly subject to noncompetition clauses that prohibit them from practicing within a 50-mile radius of their prior practice for a year following the termination of their employment.
The four orthopedic surgeons recently provided their notice of resignations to Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan. Per the court documents, the surgeons want to practice in Kent County, where they currently practice, as employees of Trinity Health IHA Medical Group, an affiliate of Trinity Health Michigan. They also, per the court documents, want to continue working at Trinity Health Saint Mary’s Hospital, a division of Trinity Health Michigan.
The plaintiffs are claiming that Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan is insisting that the orthopedic surgeons comply with their noncompetition agreements. They assert that enforcing the non-competes would “destroy these physicians’ practices and deprive their patients of care from the doctors they have chosen.” Additionally, they claim that “enforcement of the non-competes would also dramatically reduce Saint Mary’s ability to provide orthopedic surgery to the many patients who seek to use that hospital and the many referring physicians (such as primary care physicians) who prefer that their patients receive surgery at Saint Mary’s.”
According to the Complaint, the parties are seeking damages and asking for the following: a declaratory judgment that the noncompetition provisions in Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan’s employment contracts are unenforceable and void, that the surgeons may continue to work in Grand Rapids and at Saint Mary’s, and that Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan’s actions have violated federal and state antitrust laws.
