A legal dispute between former partners in two North Texas diagnostic imaging centers has led to a $10.7 million award for a Dallas county physician.
Dr. Erwin Cruz was awarded the punitive damages after jurors agreed that his former business partners, Mehrdad "Mike" Ghani and Dr. Michael Taba, made an orchestrated effort to misappropriate the partnerships' funds and assets, according to the Law Offices of Frank L. Branson. The firm represented Cruz in the case.
The lawsuit had alleged breaches of fiduciary duties, conversion, and fraudulent mismanagement of medical imaging facilities.
In the two-week trial, the firm said that jurors heard testimony alleging, among other things, that Ghani worked to deprive Cruz of his interests in North Dallas Medical Imaging and Plano AMI. The jury also agreed that both Ghani and Taba violated their fiduciary duties by opening a competing imaging center without obtaining consent from Cruz or the other Plano AMI partners, according to the firm.
In addition, the firm said that jurors also found that Ghani misled Cruz concerning the financial condition of the North Dallas business and violated his fiduciary duties by providing undisclosed compensation to himself, Taba, and Ghani's wife.
