A $2 million lawsuit against a Coral Gables-born health care business has been dismissed after a Miami-Dade Circuit judge entered an order finding the plaintiff committed fraud against the company as well as the court.

On May 16, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Barbara Areces granted a motion to strike against health care official Elizabeth Murray filed by her former employer, Simply Healthcare Plans Inc. The judge held Murray, who'd filed suit against Simply seeking stock appreciation rights following the company's $1 billion sale to Anthem Inc., perpetrated an “unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system's ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact.” Areces' order dismissed the plaintiff's complaint with prejudice and allowed for the defendant's claim for damages against Murray to proceed to trial.

Murray had been hired by Simply in May 2012 as the care company's vice president of provider relations for Clear Health Alliance, an affiliate of the business that specialized in extending medical coverage to Medicaid enrollees diagnosed with HIV and AIDS. After her resignation from Simply in June 2013, Murray filed a lawsuit against the company in 2016, alleging they had committed a breach of contract by failing to provide her with “153,852 stock appreciation rights as promised” upon her employment. The complaint also contended Simply was unjustly enriched by their purported failure to compensate Murray following the company's sale to Anthem in February 2015.

“It would be inequitable for Simply to retain the stock appreciation rights without paying the value … to plaintiff,” the suit said. “Plaintiff has been permanently deprived of her vested stock appreciation rights because Simply and [Simply Healthcare Holdings Inc.] have been sold to Anthem Inc. and the stock appreciation rights in the former Simply entity no longer exist.”

According to the attorney representing Simply, Hall, Lamb, Hall & Leto partner Matthew Leto, Murray had declined to sign the stock appreciation rights agreement presented to her upon her hiring.

“Notably, not one other employee was awarded stock without signing the appropriate documents,” the Miami litigator said. “Murray's claim was frivolous in that regard.” Leto added that over the course of discovery, the defendant learned Murray had attempted to enrich herself separately from Simply during her tenure with the company.

Read the order on motion to strike:

“While employed, Murray started a company called Physicians Alliance Corp. but concealed her involvement by enlisting her daughter, who was a freshman in college, to act as the straw owner,” the attorney said. “Murray's daughter, Sarah, was the alleged owner of 99% of the company with the other 1% being 'owned' by Murray's family friend.” Physicians Alliance Corp., which acted as an intermediary between health care providers and insurers, profited by performing administrative services and taking a percentage of agreements the business had facilitated between parties.

“The problem was that the doctors she signed up … were already signed up directly with Simply, so her interference caused Simply to lose money,” Leto said. As noted in the motion to strike, Murray's non-Simply affairs violated the company's code of conduct prohibiting “any personal/familial business dealings which would be in conflict with Simply's interests.” Leto said the plaintiff's separate enterprise allowed Simply to file a counterclaim seeking damages.

“Even if she signed the stock agreement, it would have invalidated any right to the stock benefit because it violated the code of conduct,” he said, adding Murray “flatly denied” her association with Physicians Alliance Corp. to the court. “She signed interrogatories under oath denying any involvement and lied during her deposition. Making matters worse, when we deposed her daughter, her daughter also claimed to be the actual 'owner' despite the fact that she could not answer the most basic question about the company's operations.”

The plaintiffs legal counsel — attorneys Lisa Landsman of Landsman & Associates and James Liebler of Liebler, Gonzalez & Portuondo  — did not return requests for comment by deadline. Landsman filed a notice of recusal with the court on May 20.

A motion for attorney fees was entered by the defense on May 17 following the case's dismissal. Leto said the fee claim will exceed $200,000, adding, “We are pleased that Judge Areces did not let Elizabeth Murray conceal evidence and lie for her own pecuniary gain.”

“In my view, all too often litigants believe they can lie to the court and conceal evidence in order to advance their own position without any actual consequence,” he said. “While we believe a jury would have rejected her claim either way, the court properly prevented her from even having that opportunity as a sanction for her misconduct. Going forward, we will be trying our damage claim against Murray and we anticipate a judgment will be entered against her for the damages her company caused Simply.”

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