A former sales executive for Kinetic Concepts Inc. who quit to join arch-rival Smith & Nephew (FTSE:SN, NYSE:SNN) successfully avoided a deposition scheduled for today in a lawsuit filed against him by KCI, according to court documents.
San Antonio, Texas-based KCI hired Israel Vierma in March 2010 as regional vice president for Latin America and Brazil. The company sued Vierma in a Texas state court last month, alleging that he broke a non-compete agreement when he became Smith & Nephew’s vice president of world-wide marketing in March 2013, according to the documents. The case was later removed to a federal court in the Lone Star State.
Vierma asked a judge in the U.S. District Court for Western Texas to quash a deposition he gave to the Texas state court where KCI originally filed the lawsuit. Vierma wanted Judge Harry Lee Hudspeth to suppress the deposition, partially dissolve the related portion of a temporary restraining order and grant a protective order against KCI, the documents say.
"Because this case has been removed, all state court discovery, including defendant’s deposition, is no longer ‘live’ and in fact barred at this time," according to the documents. "The portion of the [temporary restraining order] ordering defendant to appear for deposition is void because the state court erred when it issued a temporary restraining order mandating, not restraining, certain behavior."
Hudspeth today agreed, granting Vierma’s motion and cancelling the deposition.
"So long as this case is in federal court, it will proceed according to the federal rules, including those which govern discovery," Hudspeth wrote, further ordering that all discovery cease pending further notice from the court.
