AP file photo
A jury trial concluded Monday concludes a seven-year lawsuit between Vail Health and Lindsey Winninger, a physical therapist who began her career at Vail and went on to treat internationally known sports stars. did.
While Wininger sued Vail Health, her legal team was forced to defend against several counterclaims brought by Vail Health. Wininger’s lawsuit alleging that Vail Health filed defamation claims against her and harmed her business was dismissed.
As a result, Mr. Wininger’s legal team (headed by Alan Kildow of Minnesota, with local representation by Vail-area attorney Jesse Wiens) has been working with Mr. Wininger and his former employee David Cimino. He is defending a counterclaim from Vail Health, which claims approximately $600,000 in damages from a data breach in which he was involved. , along with royalties on documents that Vail Health claimed were stolen by Cimino and Wininger while they were employees of Howard Head Sports Medicine in Vail.
After working at Howard Head, Mr. Wininger continued to employ Mr. Cimino in the physical therapy practice he started at Vail, Sports Rehabilitation Consulting.
Cimino received the electronic file from Howard Head when he retired from the practice in 2015. Vail Health claimed it had to pay royalties of 50% of the value of those documents, totaling $417,945, along with out-of-pocket costs for investigation and notification. The total value of the data breach is $151,192.
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The eight-person jury deliberated for about four hours on Monday, deciding that Vail Health did have the documents obtained by Cimino and that they were trade secrets, but that Wininger and determined that the company did not misuse the trade secrets for its own business interests. The jury found that although Mr. Cimino misappropriated these documents, he was not acting within the scope of Mr. Wininger’s business at the time.
In a separate counterclaim alleging that Wininger intentionally interfered with its contractual relationship with Vail Health, the jury found that Vail Heath did have a contract with Cimino and that Wininger knowingly and knowingly interfered with that contract. The court found that the interference was not true. It can cause damage to Vail Health.
The long journey to jury trial
The lawsuit began in early 2016, a few weeks after Mr. Wininger started his sports rehabilitation consulting business and hired Mr. Cimino.
Wininger took the stand Feb. 21-22 and detailed how the case ended up in an Eagle County jury trial.
Mr. Kildow began questioning Ms. Wininger, asking her about her background and listing some of the prominent sports celebrities she had treated throughout her career. The list included Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, PGA Tour athletes Tiger Woods, Brandt Snedeker and Jordan Spieth. NFL athletes Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Brandon Marshall, and Christian McCaffrey. Wininger said she went on to work for the Orlando Magic as a physical therapist, director of sports medicine and rehabilitation, and director of high performance.
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After working with athletes, Wininger became a consultant for SpaceX and a performance rehabilitation and recovery specialist, creating strength and conditioning programs to prepare astronauts for the demands of their missions. he said.
But before all of that, she worked as a staff physical therapist at Howard Head Sports Medicine in Vail. She said she made many great relationships at Vail, so in December 2015 she decided to start a physical therapy clinic, Sports Rehabilitation Consulting.
To start the practice, she hired Cimino, who was working at Howard Head at the time.
“We were excited to learn that he was interested. …Dave had a very good reputation as an excellent physical therapist,” Wininger said Feb. 21. .
Cimino took advantage of Howard Head’s day off to begin working with patients in sports rehabilitation consulting. He then left Howard Head and joined Sports Rehabilitation Consulting.
Ms. Wininger said that when she asked Mr. Cimino if there was a non-compete agreement in her employment contract, he sent her an employment agreement that included a non-solicitation clause.
“I read (the contract) and understand that unless he accepts Vail Health’s caseload and current customer base, we will be marketing new business and discussing new referrals with physicians. “He didn’t want to take on his case, which is a problem,” she said. “You can actually point that out and say, ‘Hey, you can’t tell people to come here. If they follow you, that’s a different thing, but you can’t tell people to come here.’ I remember what you said.”
A few weeks later, on January 15, 2016, Wininger alleged that she, Cimino, and Sports Rehabilitation Consulting were involved in a data breach at Howard Head and may have engaged in conduct that amounted to theft and embezzlement. received a cease and desist letter. A year later, on January 3, 2017, Winninger received a legal complaint from Vail Her Health’s attorney.
“When I read it, I felt like there were a lot of misunderstandings. So I was pretty freaked out by it, so I considered hiring a lawyer,” she said.
Introducing Lindsey Vonn’s father
Wininger hired Kildow, whom he knew from working with his daughter, Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn. Wininger was Vonn’s physical therapist for many years.
Wininger said Kildow offered to have the computer forensically examined to prove he didn’t have the documents.
Forensic test results turned out to be a key part of Vail Health’s case, and Vail Health claims that the files on Ms. Wininger’s computer were not protected health information that she had received from Vail Health. He claimed that this proves that he had taken it with him. These files, he claimed, not only came from Cimino, but also contained information that Winninger himself had obtained from Howard Head while working for the company.
The defense’s cross-examination of Wininger said that while he worked for RPC-Vail, the company contracted by Vail Health to manage Howard Head Sports Medicine, Wininger received protection from Vail Health. It was alleged that he took away the health information that was given to him. The defense asked Mr. Wininger if his personal folders contained protected health information, and Mr. Wininger replied that they did.
“And when you left RPC-Vail and took your personal folders with you, did you take any steps to ensure that (your personal health information) was not taken away?” the defense asked Winninger.
“No, I didn’t think those documents would be a problem,” Mr. Winninger replied.
Another Vail Health claim alleged that Winninger engaged in conversion (a party taking the property of another with the intent to take the property).
Although the jury found that Ms. Wininger acquired Vail Health property, the jury found that she did not exercise any ownership interest in the property.
As a result, the jury found in Wininger’s favor on all counterclaims brought by Vail Health.
Kildow said now that the incident is over, he plans to go skiing in Vail.
“I’m going to wax my skis now,” he said as he left court Monday.
