The denial of a motion to dismiss a conspiracy case against a hospice center was reversed in the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas on March 17.
Plaintiffs FC Compassus, LLC, Hospice Compassus, and Hospice Compassus – The Woodlands, sued Crossroads Hospice, Inc. for known participation breach of duty, loyalty/fiduciary duties, tortious interference with contract, and conspiracy, after a Compassus worker, Darla Clement, left to work with Crossroads. The 234th District Court in Harris County denied Crossroads’ motion to dismiss, but the appeals court ordered for the case to be dismissed.
Crossroads sole challenge was that the plaintiffs didn’t prove each claim with evidence.
“All of the actions described above are actions taken by Clement, not Crossroads,” Justice Russell Lloyd said of Compassus’s claims that Crossroads knowingly breached loyalty and fiduciary duties. Justices Gordon Goodman and Sarah Beth Landau concurred. “The fact that Crossroads received emails and updates from Clement is not evidence that Crossroads participated in the alleged solicitation of Dr. Lee.”
The judges ruled in the same matter on Compassus’s claims that Crossroads was involved when Clement recruited her coworkers to go to Crossroads with her. They reiterated that Clement was the one who took the action, and Crossroads knowing about her conduct doesn’t equate to interference.
While Clement is the one who signed a non-solicitation agreement with Compassus during her days there, Compassus didn’t prove that Crossroads knew about the agreement before being Clement on board, so the tortious claim against Crossroads also fell short.
Because of this, the conspiracy claim was also dismissed.
Dr. Jeffrey Lee is another employee who left Compassus for Crossroads with help from Clement.
The plaintiffs sued after the Executive Director over two of its Houston centers, Clement, resigned and started working for Crossroads. Before her resignation, she signed a Protective Covenant Agreement that included clauses for non-interference with business relationships and non-solicitation of colleagues and contractors, which was in place for a year after her depature. Once she left, she said she didn’t have to follow the agreements.
Clement then hired Dawn Kindhart, the former executive director for Compassus’s Austin office. Compassus then sued Clement, Crossroads, Compassus Medical Director Lee, who Clement also hired after going to Crossroads. Crossroads filed a motion to dismiss, which was denied, until the appeals court reversed.