Appeals court rules former COO did not violate noncompete agreement

Keywords Employment Law / Law
  • Comments
  • Print
Listen to this story

Subscriber Benefit

As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
0:00
0:00
Loading audio file, please wait.
  • 0.25
  • 0.50
  • 0.75
  • 1.00
  • 1.25
  • 1.50
  • 1.75
  • 2.00
(Adobe Stock)

Greenwood-based RevOne Companies failed to show a former employee had breached a noncompete agreement or disclosed any of the company’s confidential and proprietary information, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in upholding a lower court’s denial of the company’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

At issue was whether RevOne Cos., described in court documents as a series of revenue-cycle-management and health care collection companies, could prevent a former employee, Jennifer Taylor, from working for a competitor based on several non-competition agreements Taylor signed during her employment.

The Marion Superior Court denied RevOne’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Taylor, finding the companies didn’t show Taylor had violated any noncompete or nondisclosure provisions and hadn’t demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of success on their claims.

Attorney Ian Keeler of Clapp Ferrucci in Fishers was listed along with Sean White as counsel for the RevOne Cos. Keeler could not be immediately reached for comment.

Indiana Lawyer also reached out to Daniel Burke, an attorney from DKB Legal LLC representing Taylor, but couldn’t immediately reach him for comment.

According to court documents, the firms under the RevOne Cos. umbrella are MED-1 Solutions LLC, Complete Billing Services LLC, Rev-1 Solutions LLC, The WellFund LLC, Perfiniti Insurance II LLC, Bacompt LLC, ConnectTec LLC, EPI Finance Group LLC, PrivacyDataSystems LLC, and NHTI Services LLC d/b/a Intus Technologies.

William Huff owns the RevOne Companies and operates them together as an integrated series of revenue-cycle-management companies. As an individual entity, MED-1 Solutions primarily provides third-party collection services to hospital systems and hospital-owned physician groups.

Although Taylor was employed and paid by MED-1 Solutions, she performed work for all the RevOne Companies as part of her role. In 2020, Taylor was promoted from marketing manager to chief operating officer at RevOne, and Huff had her sign a new noncompete agreement.

Taylor had signed previous agreements in 2010 and 2014, according to court records.

At the end of 2022, Taylor submitted her letter of resignation to Huff, but she continued working for RevOne Cos. for several more months until March 2023. A month later, Taylor began working for Health Care Claims Management Inc., which provides revenue-cycle services to health care clients.

Huff learned of Taylor’s employment with HCM in June 2023.

In August, RevOne Cos. sued Taylor and HCM, seeking injunctive relief and alleging Taylor breached 2010, 2014, and 2020 agreements by working for HCM and using the RevOne’s confidential and proprietary information.

Judge Nancy Vaidik wrote that RevOne failed to demonstrate that Taylor took or threatened to take their confidential information.

“Their assertion that Taylor will inevitably disclose their confidential and proprietary information is little more than speculation. The trial court did not err in concluding that the RevOne Companies failed to show a reasonable likelihood of success on their claim that Taylor breached the non-disclosure provision,” Vaidik wrote, with Judges Leanna Weissmann and Peter Foley concurring.

Please enable JavaScript to view this content.

Story Continues Below

Editor's note: You can comment on IBJ stories by signing in to your IBJ account. If you have not registered, please sign up for a free account now. Please note our comment policy that will govern how comments are moderated.

Get the best of Indiana business news. ONLY $1/week Subscribe Now

Get the best of Indiana business news. ONLY $1/week Subscribe Now

Get the best of Indiana business news. ONLY $1/week Subscribe Now

Get the best of Indiana business news. ONLY $1/week Subscribe Now

Get the best of Indiana business news.

Limited-time introductory offer for new subscribers

ONLY $1/week

Cancel anytime

Subscribe Now

Already a paid subscriber? Log In

Get the best of Indiana business news.

Limited-time introductory offer for new subscribers

ONLY $1/week

Cancel anytime

Subscribe Now

Already a paid subscriber? Log In

Get the best of Indiana business news.

Limited-time introductory offer for new subscribers

ONLY $1/week

Cancel anytime

Subscribe Now

Already a paid subscriber? Log In

Get the best of Indiana business news.

Limited-time introductory offer for new subscribers

ONLY $1/week

Cancel anytime

Subscribe Now

Already a paid subscriber? Log In