Jowell v. Biote Med.

On Appeal from the 192nd Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. DC-20-18668

Before Justices Osborne, Reichek, and Carlyle Opinion by Justice Carlyle

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CORY L. CARLYLE, JUSTICE

This is an accelerated interlocutory appeal of the trial court's order granting a temporary injunction against appellant Paul Bradley "Brad" Jowell, a former employee of appellee BioTE Medical, LLC. Mr. Jowell contends the temporary injunction should be dissolved because BioTE failed to satisfy the requirements for injunctive relief and the injunction is overbroad. We reverse the temporary injunction order in part and otherwise affirm the order in this memorandum opinion. See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.

Background

BioTE markets and licenses hormone therapy products to physicians and clinics and provides its licensees with training and support, including access to its online "dosing site." The licensees use BioTE's program to prescribe custom-compounded hormone "pellets," which are inserted into patients' skin. BioTE's contracted physicians and clinics are "serviced" by BioTE's "physician liaisons," who are independent contractors paid commissions and bonuses based on the amount of business generated.

In 2013, Mr. Jowell became a BioTE physician liaison. At that time, he signed BioTE's "Independent Contractor Agreement," which, among other things, defined BioTE's "Confidential Information" and required him to "hold and safeguard" that information during and subsequent to that agreement.^[1]

On October 14, 2017, Mr. Jowell and BioTE executed a "Phantom Equity Rights Grant Notice and Award Agreement" (the PEA), which provided that Mr. Jowell "shall earn up to two percent (2%) in the aggregate of Net Sales Proceeds of

a Change in Control payable to the Company or the Members of the Company upon such Change of Control . . . subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein." If the PEA's requirements were met, the phantom equity was to vest quarterly during the two years following a Change of Control, which was defined to include "the sale, exchange or other disposition of (whether by operation of law or otherwise), or the financing or refinancing of . . . all or substantially all (no less than seventy five percent (75%) . . .) of the Company's assets." The PEA also provided that upon a "Separation from Service" that is not "without Cause or by Grantee for a Good Reason" as defined in the PEA, Mr. Jowell's phantom equity rights "will thereby be cancelled."

Additionally, the PEA contained a confidentiality provision^[2] and stated that Mr. Jowell agreed to restrictions on competition and solicitation "[i]n consideration for the mutual promises and undertakings in this Award Agreement and the specialized knowledge of and access to Confidential Information the Company will continue to develop and/or that Grantee will newly receive from the Company during and after the period of this Award Agreement."^[3]

Less than two months after signing the PEA, Mr. Jowell became a "W-2 employee" of BioTE. In early 2019, he became BioTE's vice president of business development.

Mr. Jowell resigned from BioTE on April 15, 2020. Eight months later, he filed this lawsuit against BioTE, contending he "has been denied the value and promise of his 2% interest, and the company has since attempted to repudiate the vesting of that interest, which was approximately $6 million based upon the low end of the valuation." He asserted claims for breach of the PEA, unjust enrichment/quantum meruit, and breach of fiduciary duty/constructive trust. He also requested a declaration that "to the extent Jowell has been accused of breaching a confidentiality agreement, nondisclosure agreement, or non-competition agreement, such breach is immaterial, untimely, or excused."

BioTE filed a general denial answer and asserted counterclaims for breach of contract, breach of covenant not to compete, tortious interference with contract, and statutory trade-secret misappropriation. BioTE also filed a February 4, 2021 application for temporary and permanent injunctive relief.

In its injunctive relief application, BioTE stated (1) "[s]ometime after April 15, 2020, unbeknownst to BioTE, Jowell joined Evexias Health Solutions," a BioTE competitor which "through its brand EvexiPEL, offers the same bio-identical hormone replacement pellet therapy as BioTE," and (2) in his new position, Mr. Jowell is "using the . . . BioTE confidential and proprietary business model, trade secrets, and training 'know how,' to the detriment of BioTE for the direct benefit of BioTE's competitor." BioTE contended "there are several types of irreparable injury that BioTE will suffer if Jowell is not preliminarily enjoined including, but not limited to: (1) damage BioTE [sic] from the use and disclosure of its confidential, proprietary, and/or trade secret information; (2) the inevitable disclosure of its confidential, proprietary, and/or trade secret information; (3) the misappropriation of its confidential, proprietary, and/or trade secret information; (4) the active solicitation of BioTE's contracted practitioners; (5) the violation of BioTE's restrictive covenants, including but not limited to, non-disclosure, non-competition, and non-solicitation; [and] (6) the tortious interference with contracts between BioTE and other contracted practitioners."

Mr. Jowell's general denial answer to BioTE's counterclaims asserted several affirmative defenses, including that the contract provisions BioTE relies on are unenforceable because they "violate public policy" and "lacked consideration or were illusory."

At the temporary injunction hearing, Mr. Jowell testified that in late 2020, he became national vice president of Farmakeio Outsourcing, a drug-compounding facility. He also "dually represent[s]" Farmakeio Custom Compounding (Farmakeio), a compounding pharmacy that is "one of the suppliers" of EvexiPEL hormone pellets. The managing partner of Farmakeio and Farmakeio Outsourcing is Dan DeNeui, who is also CEO of Evexias Health Solutions.

Mr. Jowell stated that soon after he began working for Farmakeio Outsourcing, he spoke at a 2020 Evexias training seminar on "front office and back office processes," a topic on which he received training from BioTE. Additionally, in January 2021, he provided "training regarding front office and back office processes for Evexias Health Solutions." Since October 2020, he has "called on doctors who are contracted with BioTE" and talked with about seven of them "about using pellets from Farmakeio." He has also accompanied several EvexiPEL "practice development specialists" to sales meetings with practitioners, including a BioTE contracted practitioner. It is his position that "Farmakeio Outsourcing doesn't compete with BioTE because Farmakeio Outsourcing sells pellets and BioTE doesn't sell pellets." Rather, BioTE charges a per-procedure fee and provides its custom pellets to its practitioners at no additional charge to them.

Mr. Jowell signed the PEA because BioTE's CEO, Gary Donovitz, told him "unequivocally" that BioTE "would be sold by the end of 2018." Mr. Jowell stated he did not receive any "new" training after signing the PEA or "get any new secrets

of the company." During his seven years with BioTE, he (1) did not use BioTE's secured customer database "that often" because he kept his contacts in his cell phone "[m]ost of the time," and (2) logged into the dosing site "less than ten times," with the last time being in 2017 or 2018. He also logged into BioTE's password-protected "main portal" in 2019 and 2020 to "buy product" for his own use. He testified that though he did not otherwise use BioTE's secured portals, he believes various BioTE employees used his password to access those portals during 2018 and later. When he left BioTE, he did not delete the BioTE contacts in his cell phone.

After Mr. Jowell signed the PEA, Mr. Donovitz asked him to "run harder than you've ever ran for four quarters" to "increase the value of the company." For the next two years, Mr. Jowell worked seven days a week and BioTE's revenue "increased a lot," but the company was not sold. Though BioTE later completed a 2019 recapitalization that Mr. Jowell believes met the PEA's definition of a "Change of Control," he has never been paid any amount under the PEA.

Kelly Rogala testified she has been an Evexias practice development specialist since November 2020. She was formerly a BioTE physician liaison and knew Mr. Jowell while at BioTE. She stated that when she meets with practitioners regarding the EvexiPEL method, her solicitation includes "cross solicitation" of Farmakeio products, on which she can earn commissions. In late 2020, at her request, Mr. Jowell accompanied her to several sales meetings with current and former BioTE contracted practitioners. Also, at Mr. Jowell's request, Ms. Rogala set up a

meeting between Mr. Jowell and a BioTE contracted practitioner to whom she was promoting EvexiPEL. That practitioner later canceled the meeting.

Lisa Mikals testified she is vice president of operations for Evexias Medical Centers. She stated Mr. DeNeui is "involved in" Farmakeio, Farmakeio Outsourcing, Evexias Health Solutions, and EvexiPEL. At his suggestion, she invited Mr. Jowell to speak at a 2021 training webinar on EvexiPEL "front office/back office" procedures. She prepared and distributed a flyer inviting EvexiPEL licensed physicians and their staff members to join the "EvexiPEL 2021 FOBO Monthly Training Call" "as our Executive Vice President Brad Jowell gives us fun and simple ways to answer [front office/back office process] questions." The flyer did not mention Farmakeio. Ms....