CLEARFIELD – A two-day hearing scheduled for today and Wednesday regarding a preliminary injunction sought by Dr. Gary Ott of DuBois to keep Dr. Kelly Duckett from practicing in DuBois was canceled.
“The two parties have reached a settlement outside of court and filed documents to discontinue their court case,” said Clearfield County Judicial Secretary Doris Folmar.
In December of 2012, Duckett left Ott’s practice at Women’s Care of Western Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, she started opening her own practice – Life’s Journey OB/GYN PC – in the Parkview Professional Center in DuBois. Ott then filed a lawsuit against Duckett, who had worked for him since July of 2009 until approximately three months ago, to try to stop her, according to a previous GantDaily.com report.
In court on Feb. 28, Ott’s attorney Gregory H. Teufel of Eckert Seamans in Pittsburgh sought a preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction would have prevented Duckett from opening her practice in DuBois until Clearfield County President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman decided the case.
Teufel argued that Duckett signed an employee agreement with Ott, and it included a non-compete clause. He said the non-compete clause prohibited Duckett from working within a 65-mile radius of Ott for two years after leaving employment at his practice.
During his argument, Teufel also claimed the area had “plenty” of OB/GYN practices. In addition, he claimed that Ott could serve the entire 65-mile radius and get emergency patients scheduled the same or the next day. Teufel claimed Ott could get non-emergency patients scheduled within a matter of weeks.
Duckett’s attorney Joel Sansone of Pittsburgh argued Ott had promised Duckett that she’d become partner with him at Women’s Care of Western Pennsylvania at some point during her three-year contract. He said Ott never presented Duckett with the opportunity to partner with him.
Sansone also argued that the Central Pennsylvania Physicians Risk Retention Group conducted a study, which found there was a need for OB/GYN practices in the surrounding area. In fact, he said it found that there were unattended births under the care of nurses who didn’t have adequate training.
In court on Feb. 28, Ammerman said he couldn’t make a determination based solely on listening to two attorneys arguing. After meeting with counsel privately in his chambers, he decided against making any decision on the preliminary injunction and re-scheduled the case for court.
Details of the settlement were not available.