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A federal judge has temporarily forbidden a former Cigna executive from taking a position at CVS Health as part of an anti-poaching lawsuit.
CVS Health hired Amy Bricker, then president of Cigna’s Express Scripts pharmacy benefit manager subsidiary, to be chief product officer for its consumer offerings last month. But Cigna alleges that Bricker breached the terms of her noncompete agreement by accepting the position and violated the Missouri Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which is intended to protect companies from former employees divulging competitive information to rival companies.
Judge Ronnie White of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted Cigna’s request for a temporary injunction to prevent Bricker from beginning her employment at CVS, according to a court order issued Friday.
Bricker maintains that Cigna’s noncompete agreement is overly broad in scope and length, that she does not know any trade secrets and that, even if she did, they would not help CVS’ pharmacy business, according documents submitted to the court last Wednesday. Bricker asserts that CVS Health maintains separation between its pharmacy operations and its CVS Caremark PBM subsidiary.
White declined to rule whether Bricker violated the Missouri law, but wrote his order that Cigna‘s challenge to the hire is “likely to succeed” in court. “Cigna would suffer irreparable harm absent a temporary injunction,” he wrote. Cigna must pay a $250,000 security fee in case the court ultimately decides that Bricker may join CVS Health.
Cigna, CVS Health and Bricker did not immediately respond to interview requests.
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