On Wednesday, Medcor Inc., filed a complaint for injunctive relief and damages against three former employees and the company that two of them founded, Medway Health Inc. The Northern District of Illinois filing claimed the defendants unlawfully stole trade secrets and proprietary information, solicited Medcor clients, and passed off the plaintiff’s services as defendant Medway’s.
The complaint explained that “Medcor provides on-site workplace healthcare services to clients across the United States and in Canada to improve healthcare outcomes and access to medical care while reducing costs.” In addition, COVID-19 health security screening, testing, and worksite exposure management services make up a substantial proportion of the company’s business. It reportedly offers pandemic-related services to longstanding clients in the entertainment and sports industries.
According to the filing, Medway was formed and is being run by ex-Medcor employee Christopher Garcia, and ex-physician contractor, Dr. Ravi Patel. Allegedly, Medcor terminated Garcia in December 2020, when he was setting up the rival company.
Medcor claimed that Garcia intentionally chose a name and trademark similar to his former employer’s to pass off Medway’s COVID-19 services as those provided by Medcor. The plaintiff explained that it learned of the former employees’ scheme when a Medcor employee found an email in defendant Garcia’s Medcor email inbox that had apparently been sent there by mistake.
When Medcor traced the February 2021 email back to its origin, the company determined that defendant Amanda Brown, while still employed at Medcor, had received the email and attempted to divert business to defendant Medway via Patel and Garcia. This reportedly occurred twice more with other Medcor clients, according to the complaint.
The harm that Medcor has and will continue to suffer, including “the loss of value of confidential and proprietary information, the loss of long-standing customer relationships, loss of goodwill, damage to Medcor’s reputation as an industry leader, and damage to Medcor’s ability to successfully market its goods and services,” cannot be adequately remedied money alone, the plaintiff argued.
The complaint seeks an immediate and permanent injunction in addition to a variety of damages. It sets forth 16 causes of action for various business torts and contract-related claims, trademark infringement, civil conspiracy, an Illinois Deceptive Trade Practices Act claim, and federal and state trade secret law claims. The plaintiff is represented by Brinks Gilson & Lione.
