Business partner disputes are common, but they don’t need to derail your practice.

Conflicts among business partners are common, and Jackson LLP’s experienced healthcare attorneys understand the impact they can have upon a medical or veterinary practice. While our firm’s goal is to help our clients avoid litigation whenever possible, our attorneys recognize that litigation is sometimes the best mechanism by which to protect a client’s business and interests.

Common business or commercial litigation issues we face include:

• Breach of contract: breaches of partnership or shareholder agreements, jeopardizing our client’s interest in their practice.
• Management disputes and deadlocked partners or shareholders
• Interest or asset distribution disagreements when business is dissolved
• Disagreements over whether to sell or merge the practice
• Restrictive covenants litigation: Business partner or employee violates their contract’s non-competition or non-solicitation clause
• Merger disputes: disagreement over a pending or ongoing practice merger, including the practice owners’ rights under the new leadership

Protecting your interests after a corporate freeze out or squeeze out.

Sometimes, a business owner finds themselves locked out of business management — sometimes called a “freeze out” or a “squeeze out.”

As a dispute heats up between the partners, one partner may take unilateral action that effectively blocks the other partner from active participation in the business. This may include: your business partner changes or disables bank account logins, removes you from the practice bank account, or withdraws substantial funds from the account; your partner removes your name from public displays of the practice’s leadership, including your building or website; your business partner disables your access to practice management software, email, and bookkeeping tools. Often, the business partner who effectuates this type of “freeze out” soon uses your forced non-participation in the business to justify cutting off your paychecks or member distributions.

These situations are very time-sensitive, and our attorneys may recommend immediately seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) or injunction to halt your partner’s misconduct.

A partner’s conduct may violate their duties to your practice.

Sometimes, our clients discover that their business partners have violated their ethical or legal responsibilities to their practice. These healthcare business partner disputes can arise when one partner’s ongoing conduct is counter to their responsibilities to the practice or is damaging to the practice’s reputation. These cases include:

• Breach of fiduciary duty
• Breach of duty of good faith
• Conduct that harms the business’s reputation, including substance or alcohol abuse in the presence of patients, or defamatory and libelous conduct

Schedule a complimentary consultation with a healthcare litigation attorney at Jackson LLP.

These issues can require immediate intervention in the courts. If you have a dispute with your business partner, Jackson LLP’s attorneys understand the business of healthcare and stand ready to help. Call our office at (312) 985-6484 or click the button below to schedule your call.