A gaggle of pediatric dental practices in North Carolina have accused a longtime contractor of refusing to return management of a number of net domains after his contract was terminated.
A dozen-plus dental practices working below the NC Pediatric Dentistry (NCPD) model – principally owned by dentist Dr David Thome – sued [PDF] enterprise marketing consultant James McGarvey and his outfit Stonepath Pedo LLC for allegedly refusing to relinquish management of 9 domains tied to the clinics’ web sites.
Thome’s relationship with McGarvey went south in late 2023, when McGarvey’s contract was ended for a “materials and substantial failure to carry out [his] duties and obligations,” in keeping with the NCPD lawsuit, filed this month in a Mecklenburg county superior court docket.
In October 2024, the dental clinics’ web sites quickly went offline following a HostGator outage. Because the clinics labored to switch management of their domains to a brand new IT vendor, they found McGarvey was nonetheless listed as the first consumer on the HostGator account — and the one one with entry to the area switch codes, in keeping with the criticism.
NCPD requested McGarvey hand them over. At first, he complied, transferring 17 domains, the dentists say. Nonetheless, not less than 9 domains remained below McGarvey’s management, it’s claimed. He insisted in a March 2025 electronic mail that he would not launch the domains till Thome purchased out his 50 p.c stake in NCPD Leasing, a separate agency they created collectively in 2013 to deal with administrative duties for the clinics, it’s alleged.
McGarvey initially claimed he owned the domains as a result of they have been registered by his private HostGator account, it’s mentioned. However the go well with claims he did so with out authorization and argue the domains have all the time belonged to the dental practices, which paid for them, and to not McGarvey personally – nor to NCPD Leasing, the three way partnership.
“Defendants have been unbiased contractors and registered and maintained the Domains on behalf of the NCPD Observe Entities … at no time did the NCPD Observe Entities relinquish possession or management of the Domains to Defendants or to NCPD Leasing,” the lawsuit states.
The clinics are asking the US court docket for a brief restraining order and a preliminary injunction to stop McGarvey from making modifications to the domains — and to compel their return.
Whereas McGarvey has but to answer the April 16 complaint, a letter from his legal professional David Stevens – included as Exhibit I within the lawsuit – challenges the premise of the claims, questions who precisely the plaintiffs are, and disputes whether or not any domains have been unlawfully withheld within the first place.
The letter additionally claims Thome and his spouse created a brand new firm, NCPD LASD, in February 2024 with the intent of stripping belongings from the three way partnership McGarvey and Thome based.
“For the reason that creation of LASD fourteen months in the past, Dr Thome and his new spouse … have been systematically gutting monetary belongings, workers, and tools from Leasing and changing them to LASD’s use,” McGarvey’s lawyer alleged, including all of this drama “is nothing greater than one other effort by the Thomes and LASD to pilfer belongings which belong to Leasing, and due to this fact Mr McGarvey.”
Stevens additionally claimed Thome used funds from the three way partnership — with out McGarvey’s consent — to pay authorized payments tied to the formation of LASD, and that they nonetheless owe $400,000 to Stonepath Pedo for providers below the terminated settlement.
As is so typically the case in these conditions, it’s going to be as much as a decide to suss out the reality from the unhealthy blood between the events, neither of whom responded to questions for this story. ®
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