Legal Question in Business Law in Missouri

Re: recruiting customers from a previous employer

HIPPA deals with confidential medical information and as long as you're not disclosing that confidential information to someone other than the patient, you're not going to run afoul of that regulation. However, businesses frequently assert this rationale as a threat against competitors and as a means of holding on to information they do not wish to disclose.

Perhaps the more important issue is whether you signed any non-compete agreement with the national chain. If you did, you may be held to it. If you didn't, then the chain may still try to sue you if you took away a customer list, by claiming that the customer list was proprietary business information subject to trade secret protection.

For this reason, before you send any invitation, etc., it would be a good idea to get an official opinion from an attorney. That attorney will need all the relevant facts to make a determination.

I hope this is helpful.