Mayo Clinic Sues Lab Executive Over Trade Secrets, Contract Breach

When Franklin Cockerill, M.D., announced his retirement as chief executive officer of the Mayo Clinic Medical Laboratories last July, he was apparently on the verge of tears. “Dr. Cockerill told his long-term colleagues he was retiring to help his aged mother with the family’s fertilizer business in Nebraska,” according to one account. But the day after he left Mayo, Cockerill apparently started a job at rival Quest Diagnostics as vice president and chief laboratory officer. That retelling of Cockerill’s emotional retirement announcement came from a lawsuit Mayo filed in Minnesota state court last week, claiming that by seeking employment with Quest he breached his contract and misappropriated trade secrets. “Dr. Cockerill’s retirement plans included something entirely different than helping with his mother’s business,” claimed the suit, which said he had been planning his move to Quest for months before he left and had been involved in sensitive and high-level management meetings virtually to the final minute of his Mayo employment. The litigation also claimed that under Mayo’s employment policies, seeking a similar job at Quest represented a conflict of interest. The suit seeks an injunction against Cockerill, who had worked for Mayo since the 1980s, from disclosing trade secrets or other sensitive information to Quest. It also demands he repay Mayo his salary during the seven months he was allegedly planning to leave Quest. Based on Cockerill’s 2012 compensation, that sum may be $350,000 or more. It’s the second lawsuit filed in the past month over a top-ranking lab executive leaving their job to go to a competitor. San Diego-based Millenium Health sued its nearby rival Pathhway Genomics in September over the recruitment of its former laboratory director. In a statement released by his attorney last week, Cockerill said he was “disappointed that the Mayo Clinic has made such allegations and publicized its unproven claims in the media.” Takeaway: The recruitment of high-level laboratory executives by rivals may lead to protracted litigation.