The BC Court of Appeal has dismissed a dentist’s bid to overturn a competitor’s injunction against him.
Dr. Jasdip Minhas, Dr. Jasdip Minhas Dental Corp., his family trust and six numbered companies sought a stay of last November’s BC Supreme Court court order that restrained Minhas from operating dental clinics in Pine Centre Mall in Prince George and Powell River Town Centre.
In an Aug. 12 ruling, Justice Karen Horsman found it was “not in the interests of justice” to hear the appeal and she refused to grant the stay.
Dentalcorp Health Services Ltd. and Dr. Larry Podolsky bought five of Minhas’s Family Dental Care Clinics in Prince George in 2017 and Minhas remained in a managerial role. He received $11 million in cash and shares as part of a complex set of agreements.
Branch ruled that Dentalcorp made a strong preliminary case that Minhas breached restrictive covenants and issued the injunction pending a trial.
Minhas and Dentalcorp worked together from 2018 to 2022 to seek clinics in Prince George, Quesnel, Ladner, North Vancouver and Vancouver. Minhas also started his own dental franchise company called Smili, which prompted Dentalcorp to cancel their agreement in June 2024.
“There is limited evidence before me as to what steps the parties have taken in the trial court,” Horsman wrote. “It is fair to observe that the proceeding is at the early stages, and pleadings have only recently closed. There is no scheduled trial date. Nevertheless, an appeal will, at the very least, distract the parties from their focus on proceeding to trial expeditiously.”
