4D05-2673-Shetty v. Palm Beach Radiation Oncology Associates

State: Florida

Court: Florida Fourth District Court

Docket No: 4D05-2673

Case Date: 12/21/2005

Preview:DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FOURTH DISTRICT July Term 2005 GITA SHETTY d/b/a PALM BEACH MEDICAL BILLING, Appellant, v. PALM BEACH RADIATION ONCOLOGY ASSOCIATES - SUNDERAM K. SHETTY, M.D., P.A., Appellee. No. 4D05-2673 December 21, 2005 STONE, J. Gita Shetty appeals an order denying her motion to compel arbitration. We reverse. Initially, Anne Lewis, M.D. filed a complaint against Dr. Sunderam K. Shetty and his wife, Gita Shetty. Dr. Lewis filed the suits individually and on behalf of Palm Beach Radiation Onocology Associates (PBRO), of which she was a shareholder. Mrs. Shetty handled the billing for PBRO. The complaint alleged that Dr. and Mrs. Shetty conspired to defraud, aided and abetted fraud, conspired to breach fiduciary duty, and were unjustly enriched by misusing and misappropriating funds and engaging in improper billing practices. Mrs. Shetty moved to compel arbitration based upon an arbitration clause in the PBRO shareholder agreement, to which Dr. Shetty was a party, that provided: Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement, other than if injunctive relief sought hereunder, or to the interpretation, breach or enforcement thereof, shall be submitted to three (3) arbitrators, and settled by arbitration. . . . Thereafter, however, Lewis dropped Mrs. Shetty as a defendant. Meanwhile, Dr. Shetty's motion to compel arbitration pursuant to the

shareholder agreement was granted, and the arbitration went forward in that case. Subsequently, Lewis filed another complaint against Mrs. Shetty, including counts for conversion and breach of fiduciary duty, based upon allegations that Mrs. Shetty had diverted monies collected from PBRO's billings to herself. Mrs. Shetty again moved to compel arbitration, asserting that the claims in the new complaint were based upon the same facts and circumstances as the pending arbitration in the original action. At the hearing on the motion to compel arbitration, the trial court recognized that the accounting that was ordered and was now being done in the arbitration proceeding would provide the answers as to whether Mrs. Shetty had taken unauthorized funds from PBRO; if so, how much was taken, and how those funds were applied. Additionally, the court stated, "What I'm hearing and what I'm seeing from the pleadings is that there's going to be a lot of overlap, not only discovery, but what's going to be

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