{"id":105,"date":"2016-04-26T13:36:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T13:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/?p=105"},"modified":"2023-04-27T09:48:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T13:48:28","slug":"medical-non-competes-in-rhode-island-no-clean-bill-of-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/2016\/04\/26\/medical-non-competes-in-rhode-island-no-clean-bill-of-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical Non-Competes in Rhode Island: No Clean Bill of Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rhode Island Superior Court recently refused to enforce a non-compete agreement against a local physician because it was against the public interest.\u00a0 Medicine and Long Term Care Associates, LLC v. Khurshid<\/em>, PC 2015-0458, 2016 WL 1294194 (R.I. Super. Ct. Mar. 29, 2016) (Silverstein, J.).\u00a0 Prior posts on It\u2019s Your Business <\/em>have summarized the law governing non-competes.\u00a0 Is The Classification Of Your Workers Putting Your Business At Risk?<\/a> and Distinguishing Between Types Of Non-Compete Provisions In Rhode Island<\/a><\/p>\n

A local provider of health care services recently sought to enjoin its former employee pursuant to a non-compete provision in an employment agreement entered into by the parties.\u00a0 The health care provider contracted with various nursing homes to treat geriatric patients.\u00a0 The physician\/employee treated geriatric patients on behalf of the local provider at one particular nursing home.\u00a0 That physician then left his employment to work directly for that nursing home, contemporaneously with that nursing home ceasing to do business with the health care provider.\u00a0 The non-compete provision signed by the physician seemed to prohibit the physician from usurping this business relationship, and another provision in the agreement expressly stated that injunctive relief was an appropriate remedy in the event of a violation of the non-compete.<\/p>\n

Unlike other states, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island has no statute that prohibits or limits the enforcement of non-competes against individual medical professionals.\u00a0 However, the Superior Court judge found a \u201cstrong public interest in allowing individuals to retain health care service providers of [his or her] choice,\u201d notwithstanding the absence of any specific Rhode Island law demonstrating that public interest. \u00a0Khurshid<\/em>, 2016 WL 1294194, at *3.\u00a0 In doing so, the Superior Court distinguished another Superior Court decision enforcing a non-compete against veterinarians.\u00a0 Id.<\/em> at 2 (quoting Block v. Vector, <\/em>2000 WL 1634784, at *6 (R.I. Super. Ct. May 19, 2000) (\u201cfinding that enforcement would not impose \u2018an undue hardship on the pets in Rhode Island\u2019\u201d)).\u00a0 While the Court refused to enjoin the physician from working for the nursing home, it emphasized that the former employer could still seek monetary damages in relation to the physician\u2019s breach of the non-compete provision.<\/p>\n

This appears to be the first Rhode Island decision refusing to enjoin a violation of a non-compete provision against a medical professional due to the relevant public interest.\u00a0 The notion that a non-compete provision can be unenforceable as inconsistent with the public interest, but also can give rise to a claim for monetary damages, also appears to be a novel one under Rhode Island law.\u00a0 Whether you are an employer or an employee in the health care field, Khurshid <\/em>has the potential to affect you and your rights under your employment agreement(s).\u00a0 Careful consideration of these issues \u2013 either at the time of drafting, or at the time of enforcement \u2013 can still result in you getting a clean bill of health in relation to your non-compete agreements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rhode Island Superior Court recently refused to enforce a non-compete agreement against a local physician because it was against the public interest.\u00a0 Medicine and Long Term Care Associates, LLC v. Khurshid, PC 2015-0458, 2016 WL 1294194 (R.I. Super. Ct. Mar. 29,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,51],"tags":[7,52,6,5],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-law","category-employment-law","category-health-care","tag-employees","tag-health-care","tag-non-competes","tag-rhode-island-business-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}