Two orthopedic surgeons who have been sued by SSM Health Dean Medical Group are denying they violated their employment contracts when they left Dean to start their own independent practice, according to a report in the Wisconsin State Journal.
Dr. Jason Sansone and Dr. Brian Keyes, who resigned in November to start a competing practice, filed their response to the suit on Feb. 3 Dane County Circuit Court. They claim that Dean’s lawsuit is part of a larger strategy to harm their reputations and block lawful competition.
Sansone, Keyes, and other former SSM Health Dean surgeons are expected to open their practice later this month.
In its suit, SSM Health Dean claims that Sansone and Keyes violated their employment agreements by using SSM Health Dean property and equipment during business hours to plan a competing business and that they induced and encouraged the other surgeons to breach their contracts. In addition, Dean’s lawsuit says Sansone violated another agreement stipulating that he could not work as a medical executive for a year after his departure within a 45-mile radius of Madison.
In their response, Sansone and Keyes maintain that their contracts didn’t prevent them from planning an independent practice or competing against Dean. They also say the 45-mile stipulation for Sansone is overbroad and “lacks any meaningful geographic or temporal scope.”
Related story: SSM Health Dean Medical Group sues leaving orthopedic surgeons
