Several industries have shown signs of growth since 2009 even though overall employment has been flat. The health care services industry continues to be a strong driver of growth. However, the most growth in recent years has come from the leisure and hospitality sector. To encourage that growth, the city is constructing a new conference center and related amenities. These projects are attempts to boost the city tourism in the slow winter months.
On June 12, 2000 Armstrong filed his petition for declaratory judgment in the Circuit Court of Cape Girardeau County asking the court to declare that neither the termination nor the proposed employment violated his contract with Physician's Associates. Armstrong pleaded that he gave at least 90 days notice of his intention to terminate his employment and that the employment for which he contracted with the hospitals "is of a limited and specific nature, and does not constitute competition with" Physician Associates. Specifically, Armstrong pleaded that his work for Physician Associates was "at defendant's place of business" and that he "provided a continuity of care primarily as an outpatient practice with the specialty of pediatric medicine." He pleaded that his proposed work for the two hospitals would be as a "pediatric hospitalist ... providing in-patient care ... to hospitalized patients with no local doctor available for their care." He attached to his petition the employment agreement, his letter of resignation and Physician Associates's letter threatening legal action.
st francis hospital cape girardeau employment
On July 6, 2000, Physician Associates filed its answer with the court, arguing that Armstrong failed to give proper notice *824 and that his proposed employment would be in violation of the covenant not to compete. Physician Associates pleaded that while he was under its employ Armstrong "provided a variety of medical services and medical practice to patients both in the hospital and in the office, as well as for `no local call' patients referred by the hospital... [and] worked in the hospital setting as an on-call pediatrician ..."
1. The court hereby finds and declares that the contract of employment at issue in this cause is as a matter of law and based upon the facts involved overly broad and unenforceable with respect to the covenant against competition set forth in Paragraph 9, and said contract does not prohibit Plaintiff's employment as a pediatric hospitalist by Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center.
In Washington County Memorial Hosp. v. Sidebottom, 7 S.W.3d 542, 543-44 (Mo. App. E.D.1999), the court enforced a covenant not to compete between a nurse practitioner and a hospital that prevented the nurse practitioner from engaging in the practice of nursing within a fifty-mile radius for one-year following termination. In that case the court found the covenant not to compete contained in Sidebottom's employment contract to be both reasonable and necessary to protect the hospital's interest in "its patient base, as income from patient billings constitutes its primary source of revenue" Id. at 545.
In ruling on Armstrong's motion for judgment on the pleadings the court presumes all facts pleaded by Physician Associates to be true. In its answer, Physician Associates controverts a number of factual allegations in Armstrong's petition. In paragraph six of his petition, Armstrong states that he "provided a continuity of care primarily as an outpatient practice within the specialty of pediatric medicine." Physician Associates denies this and pleads that Armstrong "provided a variety of medical services and medical practice to patients both in the hospital and in the office, as well as for `no local call' patients referred by the hospital ... [and that Armstrong] also worked in the hospital setting as an on-call pediatrician ..." In paragraph ten of Armstrong's petition, he alleges that the employment he has contracted for "is of a limited and specific nature, and does not constitute competition with the defendant." Physician Associates denies this. 2ff7e9595c
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