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Burson et al. v. Milton Hall Surgical Associates, LLC

The trial court partially erred in denying former employees' motion to dismiss former employer's breach of contract claims against them arising out of their employment contracts, because certain provisions of the agreements were too indefinite to be enforceable.

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Mercier, Judge.

Milton Hall Surgical Associates, LLC (“MHSA”) sued James Burson (a physician), N. Hadley Heindel (a physician), and Esther Askew (a physician’s assistant) (collectively, the “Former Employees”) for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets (Count I); breach of the duty of loyalty and good faith as to Burson and Heindel, and “under a theory of unfaithful agent” as to Askew, for “steal[ing] and misappropriat[ing] . . . trade secrets [and] confidential and proprietary business information,” and violating restrictive covenants in their employment contracts (Count II); for alleged breach of their employment contracts (Count III); and for attorney fees and litigation expenses (Count IV). The Former Employees moved the trial court to dismiss the suit pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-12 (b) (6), asserting, among other things,^{^[1]} that the restrictive covenants in the Former Employees’ contracts were unenforceable and they could not be held liable for failing to comply with void covenants, and thus neither Count II nor Count III was viable. The trial court summarily denied the Former Employees’ motion to dismiss and certified its ruling for immediate review. This Court granted the Former Employees’ application for interlocutory appeal.

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