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Home » UnitedHealth Group’s Optum sues VP who left for Amazon venture

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum sues VP who left for Amazon venture

January 24, 2019 By Chris Newmarker

judge gavel lawsuit medtech medical device Optum Amazon
[Image from Unsplash]
UnitedHealth Group’s Optum IT-based health services unit has sued former VP David Smith, claiming that he misappropriated trade secrets before leaving to join a new healthcare venture supported by Amazon.

Smith’s lawyers are seeking to move the case to arbitration.

The complaint, filed Jan. 16 in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, accuses Smith of printing out a confidential Optum in-depth healthcare market analysis just a minute before printing out his resume. It was the same day that he spoke with the healthcare innovation venture nicknamed ABC, now led by Dr. Atul Gawande and supported by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Smith, who went from being VP of corporate strategy to being VP of product during 18 months at Optum, also sought confidential information from colleagues that was not related to his job duties, according to the lawsuit complaint.

Smith resigned Optum last month to join ABC as director of product strategy and research. Just a day before he told Optum that he planned to resign, he printed out a highly confidential document including product portfolio performance, new product development and a product job family and assessment plan, the complaint said.

“If Smith is permitted to work for ABC, he will inevitably use Optum’s trade secrets to expedite ABC’s development of competitive capabilities and products. Even if those products take more than a year to commercialize, Smith’s assistance in the process of beginning to develop them now is a direct competitive harm to Optum,” Optum’s lawyers said in the complaint.

Optum is seeking an injunction to prevent Smith from working for ABC or divulging trade secrets, as well as damages.

Smith’s lawyers in their own filing argue that the dispute falls under Optum’s employment arbitration policy, so the case should be handled through arbitration, not a lawsuit trial.

Said Smith’s lawyers: “There is no reason for this case to be in court.”

Filed Under: Big Data, Business/Financial News, Digital Health, Featured, Health Information Technology, Legal News, News Well Tagged With: Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, JP Morgan Chase, Optum, UnitedHealth Group

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About Chris Newmarker

Chris Newmarker is the executive editor of WTWH Media life science's news websites and publications including MassDevice, Medical Design & Outsourcing and more. A professional journalist of 18 years, he is a veteran of UBM (now Informa) and The Associated Press whose career has taken him from Ohio to Virginia, New Jersey and, most recently, Minnesota. He’s covered a wide variety of subjects, but his focus over the past decade has been business and technology. He holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science from Ohio State University. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email at [email protected].

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