Hint Health Vindicated by Jury Verdict Tossing Accresa's Claims
SHERMAN, Texas, Oct. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hint Health Inc. announces that after a two-week trial, yesterday a Texas jury returned a decisive verdict exonerating the San Francisco-based health tech startup on all charges brought by Accresa, an Ameriflex company. In true David vs. Goliath fashion, Hint's defense turned back Accresa's high-powered, high-priced legal team several times its size.
In July 2018, Accresa filed suit against Hint, claiming that the upstart company had stolen Accresa's trade secrets and defrauded Accresa, among other allegations. But an eight-person jury unanimously found that Hint did not steal Accresa's trade secrets nor did Hint defraud Accresa. While the jury did find that Hint had delayed testing of the companies' software integration, the jury awarded $0 in damages for the delay. The trial, presided over by United States District Judge Amos Mazzant, effectively ended over two years of hotly contested litigation between Hint and Accresa.
In response to the verdict, Hint CEO and co-founder Zak Holdsworth said, "This is a big win not just for Hint but for the entire direct primary care community. It's too bad that we had to divert precious time and resources to fight this lawsuit, but no one said that transforming the US healthcare system was going to be easy. Now that the truth has been established and our name has been cleared, we're excited to put all our energy into realizing our mission of making direct care the new standard." Hint CTO and co-founder Graham Melcher agreed, saying, "We're very glad to have this baseless lawsuit behind us, to be able to clear our name, and to once again turn our full focus to supporting and growing the DPC movement."
A Rare Jury Trial During the Pandemic
While most Texas courts have continued to suspend jury trials during the coronavirus pandemic, federal courts in the Eastern District of Texas were among the first in the nation to resume jury trials. With precautions taken to protect the health and safety of those involved, Hint's witnesses flew in from all over the country and world. Former Hint employee Jonathan Avida made the long journey from Israel to provide testimony that debunked Accresa's claim that it had shared proprietary and confidential information with Hint. In other testimony, Dr. Clint Flanagan, founder and CEO of Colorado-based Nextera Healthcare, posited: "What if they could have focused all of this time, energy, effort, and money on getting direct primary care to people? Imagine that."
What's Next for Hint
After years of litigation drawing time and resources away from its core mission, Hint is now poised to expand on its technology and services that support the operational efficiency and growth of direct primary care practices and the direct care industry at large. Just last week, Hint held its annual DPC industry event—Hint Summit. The virtual event drew over twice as many registrants as last year and now stands as the largest-ever Direct Primary Care conference. With more providers, patients, and employers interested in direct primary care than ever before, Hint looks forward to a year of renewed growth and innovation.
For more information on Hint:
For legal inquiries:
Alex More, lead counsel
Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, LLP
214-855-3053
[email protected]
SOURCE Hint Health
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