Gulfport OB-GYN, P.A. v. Dukes, Dukes, Keating & Faneca, P.A.

Gulfport OB-GYN, P.A. (Gulfport) (plaintiff) retained Dukes, Dukes, Keating & Faneca, P.A. (Dukes) (defendant) to assist with negotiating Gulfport’s hiring of Dr. Donielle Daigle and to draft the relevant employment agreement. Attorney Je’Nell Blum (defendant) was primarily responsible for the matter. Blum drafted an employment agreement providing that Daigle would not compete with Gulfport within 50 miles of Memorial Hospital in Gulfport for three years “following termination of her employment by the Employer, regardless of cause.” Daigle could avoid the noncompete clause by paying Gulfport $150,000. Several years later, Daigle voluntarily left Gulfport and set up her own practice. Daigle sued Gulfport for unpaid compensation and asked the chancery court to declare the noncompetition covenant unenforceable. The chancery court ruled in Daigle’s favor, finding that the noncompetition clause did not apply because Gulfport did not terminate Daigle’s employment. Gulfport appealed but subsequently settled by paying Daigle $425,000. Gulfport then sued Dukes and Blum for malpractice. Specifically, Gulfport alleged that Dukes and Blum negligently drafted the noncompetition clause by including the phrase “following termination of her employment by the Employer.” The circuit court found that Gulfport failed to establish that Daigle would have accepted a broader noncompetition clause and therefore entered summary judgment against Gulfport. Gulfport appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court.