Dentists sue ex-contractor for holding web domains hostage in biz fight
(2025/04/23)
- Reference: 1745361915
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/04/22/fired_dental_clinic_administrator_sued/
- Source link:
A group of pediatric dental practices in North Carolina have accused a longtime contractor of refusing to return control of several web domains after his contract was terminated.
A dozen-plus dental practices operating under the NC Pediatric Dentistry (NCPD) brand - mostly owned by dentist Dr David Thome - [1]sued [PDF] business consultant James McGarvey and his outfit Stonepath Pedo LLC for allegedly refusing to relinquish control of nine domain names tied to the clinics' websites.
Thome's relationship with McGarvey went south in late 2023, when McGarvey's contract was ended for a "material and substantial failure to perform [his] duties and obligations," according to the NCPD lawsuit, filed this month in a Mecklenburg county superior court.
[2]
In October 2024, the dental clinics' websites temporarily went offline following a HostGator outage. As the clinics worked to transfer control of their domains to a new IT vendor, they discovered McGarvey was still listed as the primary user on the HostGator account — and the only one with access to the domain transfer codes, according to the complaint.
[3]
[4]
NCPD requested McGarvey hand them over. At first, he complied, transferring 17 domains, the dentists say. However, at least nine domains remained under McGarvey's control, it is claimed. He insisted in a March 2025 email that he wouldn't release the domains until Thome bought out his 50 percent stake in NCPD Leasing, a separate firm they created together in 2013 to handle administrative tasks for the clinics, it is alleged.
McGarvey initially claimed he owned the domains because they were registered through his personal HostGator account, it is said. But the suit claims he did so without authorization and argue the domains have always belonged to the dental practices, which paid for them, and not to McGarvey personally - nor to NCPD Leasing, the joint venture.
[5]
"Defendants were independent contractors and registered and maintained the Domains on behalf of the NCPD Practice Entities … at no time did the NCPD Practice Entities relinquish ownership or control of the Domains to Defendants or to NCPD Leasing," the lawsuit states.
The clinics are asking the US court for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent McGarvey from making changes to the domains — and to compel their return.
While McGarvey has yet to respond to the April 16 [6]complaint , a letter from his attorney David Stevens – included as Exhibit I in the lawsuit – challenges the basis of the claims, questions who exactly the plaintiffs are, and disputes whether any domains were unlawfully withheld in the first place.
[7]Yes, your network is down – you annoyed us so much we crashed it
[8]Law firm 'didn't think' data theft was a breach, says ICO. Now it's nursing a £60K fine
[9]Revenge for being fired is best served profitably
[10]Accenture sued over website redesign so bad it Hertz: Car hire biz demands $32m+ for 'defective' cyber-revamp
The letter also claims Thome and his wife created a new company, NCPD LASD, in February 2024 with the intent of stripping assets from the joint venture McGarvey and Thome founded.
"Since the creation of LASD fourteen months ago, Dr Thome and his new wife … have been systematically gutting financial assets, employees, and equipment from Leasing and converting them to LASD's use," McGarvey's lawyer alleged, adding all of this drama "is nothing more than another effort by the Thomes and LASD to pilfer assets which belong to Leasing, and therefore Mr McGarvey."
[11]
Stevens also claimed Thome used funds from the joint venture — without McGarvey's consent — to pay legal bills tied to the formation of LASD, and that they still owe $400,000 to Stonepath Pedo for services under the terminated agreement.
As is so often the case in these situations, it'll be up to a judge to suss out the truth from the bad blood between the parties, neither of whom responded to questions for this story. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/04/22/dentist-website-complaint.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://portal-nc.tylertech.cloud/app/RegisterOfActions/#/7F3DF7D4AA50ED5CC675E1804984C6D1E9D560FCDF8C41743FB9F72380402A6E04061D2B1EF36140CDB7A260C1B20F925C5B83548A0C78AD53A15459E150494BF3A3D59A10821D4FB0F1C7685980E74A/anon/portalembed
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/18/on_call/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/16/law_firm_ico_fine/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/04/on_call/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/04/23/hertz_accenture_lawsuit/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
A dozen-plus dental practices operating under the NC Pediatric Dentistry (NCPD) brand - mostly owned by dentist Dr David Thome - [1]sued [PDF] business consultant James McGarvey and his outfit Stonepath Pedo LLC for allegedly refusing to relinquish control of nine domain names tied to the clinics' websites.
Thome's relationship with McGarvey went south in late 2023, when McGarvey's contract was ended for a "material and substantial failure to perform [his] duties and obligations," according to the NCPD lawsuit, filed this month in a Mecklenburg county superior court.
[2]
In October 2024, the dental clinics' websites temporarily went offline following a HostGator outage. As the clinics worked to transfer control of their domains to a new IT vendor, they discovered McGarvey was still listed as the primary user on the HostGator account — and the only one with access to the domain transfer codes, according to the complaint.
[3]
[4]
NCPD requested McGarvey hand them over. At first, he complied, transferring 17 domains, the dentists say. However, at least nine domains remained under McGarvey's control, it is claimed. He insisted in a March 2025 email that he wouldn't release the domains until Thome bought out his 50 percent stake in NCPD Leasing, a separate firm they created together in 2013 to handle administrative tasks for the clinics, it is alleged.
McGarvey initially claimed he owned the domains because they were registered through his personal HostGator account, it is said. But the suit claims he did so without authorization and argue the domains have always belonged to the dental practices, which paid for them, and not to McGarvey personally - nor to NCPD Leasing, the joint venture.
[5]
"Defendants were independent contractors and registered and maintained the Domains on behalf of the NCPD Practice Entities … at no time did the NCPD Practice Entities relinquish ownership or control of the Domains to Defendants or to NCPD Leasing," the lawsuit states.
The clinics are asking the US court for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent McGarvey from making changes to the domains — and to compel their return.
While McGarvey has yet to respond to the April 16 [6]complaint , a letter from his attorney David Stevens – included as Exhibit I in the lawsuit – challenges the basis of the claims, questions who exactly the plaintiffs are, and disputes whether any domains were unlawfully withheld in the first place.
[7]Yes, your network is down – you annoyed us so much we crashed it
[8]Law firm 'didn't think' data theft was a breach, says ICO. Now it's nursing a £60K fine
[9]Revenge for being fired is best served profitably
[10]Accenture sued over website redesign so bad it Hertz: Car hire biz demands $32m+ for 'defective' cyber-revamp
The letter also claims Thome and his wife created a new company, NCPD LASD, in February 2024 with the intent of stripping assets from the joint venture McGarvey and Thome founded.
"Since the creation of LASD fourteen months ago, Dr Thome and his new wife … have been systematically gutting financial assets, employees, and equipment from Leasing and converting them to LASD's use," McGarvey's lawyer alleged, adding all of this drama "is nothing more than another effort by the Thomes and LASD to pilfer assets which belong to Leasing, and therefore Mr McGarvey."
[11]
Stevens also claimed Thome used funds from the joint venture — without McGarvey's consent — to pay legal bills tied to the formation of LASD, and that they still owe $400,000 to Stonepath Pedo for services under the terminated agreement.
As is so often the case in these situations, it'll be up to a judge to suss out the truth from the bad blood between the parties, neither of whom responded to questions for this story. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/04/22/dentist-website-complaint.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://portal-nc.tylertech.cloud/app/RegisterOfActions/#/7F3DF7D4AA50ED5CC675E1804984C6D1E9D560FCDF8C41743FB9F72380402A6E04061D2B1EF36140CDB7A260C1B20F925C5B83548A0C78AD53A15459E150494BF3A3D59A10821D4FB0F1C7685980E74A/anon/portalembed
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/18/on_call/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/16/law_firm_ico_fine/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/04/on_call/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/04/23/hertz_accenture_lawsuit/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aAhl6-vH73AXWV_L7pX4fgAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Not unusual
Several prominent hosting companies have sold people deals where the hosting company owns the domain name making it impossible for people to move to another host. I'm surprised that after years and years of there being the Web, businesses are still naive when it comes to IT ownership. Companies such as Square Space and GoDaddy will box people in by getting them to build web sites that rely on proprietary tools to create web sites that can't be transferred to another host. Yes, the tools are quite nice and many of the ready to go templates are very attractive and have many functions, but when the next year's renewal comes at 3x the price, you either have to pay up or spend time rebuilding your whole site someplace else.
It's all as legal as church on Sunday, so unless there is gross negligence or provable failure to uphold contractual terms, the dental group may be out of luck. Even if they can get some sort of relief, the domains might still wind up in the other company's possession. In the mean time, the sites going dark will mean people deleting their bookmarks and search engine de-listing.