Vraney v. Med. Specialty Clinic, P.C. (Summary)

BREACH OF CONTRACT

Vraney v. Med. Specialty Clinic, P.C., No. W2012-02144-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 9, 2013)

A contract dispute between a physician and a clinic was allowed to proceed after the Court of Appeals of Tennessee reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the clinic.   The clinic had successfully argued its breach of contract and duty of loyalty claims against the physician, who, allegedly, among other things, limited his hours in violation of his “full-time” employment, incorporated a competing practice, and withheld his accounts receivable from the clinic, all while still employed.

Nevertheless, the appeals court found that there was a question of fact as to whether the clinic may have breached its contract with the physician first, either through constructive discharge or by disseminating erroneous information to the physician’s patients, thereby excusing the physician from performing his obligations under the contract.

The appeals court did uphold the trial court’s denial of the physician’s claim for unpaid vacation time, as the employment agreement specifically stated that unused vacation time could not be carried over to succeeding years and the clinic would not pay for time not taken.