Rare Health Care Noncompete Case Settles for $3.3M

Settlement Validates Carlton Fields’ Client Surgery Partners’ Commitment to Protecting Its Patients and Employees From Competitors

Tampa, Fla. - In one of the largest noncompetition case settlements or verdicts known in the health care industry, Surgery Partners and its Tampa-based affiliates, Tampa Pain Relief Center and Armenia Ambulatory Surgery Center, obtained a $3.3 million settlement from one of its largest competitors, Physician Partners of America (PPOA), along with its founder, Dr. Rodolfo Gari, and an affiliated medical practice, to end a lawsuit for damages resulting from their alleged poaching of Surgery Partners’ physicians and other personnel.

The settlement was obtained less than two weeks before a resumed injunction hearing before Circuit Judge Darren D. Farfante of Hillsborough County’s Complex Business Litigation Court. That hearing was scheduled after Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal held that Surgery Partners and its affiliates had proven, among other things, that their former physicians, Dr. Robert Guirguis, Dr. Hector Cases, and Dr. John Kevyn Otero, violated their noncompetition and nonsolicitation covenants by going to work for Dr. Gari and PPOA, and treating Surgery Partners’ patients at PPOA facilities.

“The settlement validates Surgery Partners’ commitment to protecting its patients and employees from competitors, and will facilitate the company’s continued delivery of high quality care by its excellent physicians and other medical providers,” said Alan Rosenthal, lead counsel for Surgery Partners.

Surgery Partners and its affiliates were represented by Carlton Fields attorneys Alan Rosenthal, Natalie J. Carlos and Charles W. Throckmorton in Miami.

©2026 Carlton Fields, P.A. Carlton Fields practices law in California through Carlton Fields, LLP. Carlton Fields publications should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general information and educational purposes only, and should not be relied on as if it were advice about a particular fact situation. The distribution of this publication is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship with Carlton Fields. This publication may not be quoted or referred to in any other publication or proceeding without the prior written consent of the firm, to be given or withheld at our discretion. To request reprint permission for any of our publications, please use our Contact Us form via the link below. The views set forth herein are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the firm. This site may contain hypertext links to information created and maintained by other entities. Carlton Fields does not control or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this outside information, nor is the inclusion of a link to be intended as an endorsement of those outside sites.