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CAUSE NO. 2017-43 3:
SAM ALAM, IN THE DISTRICT COURT
Plaintiff,
v 165th JUDICIAL DISTRICT
ANDREW GOMES, MD;
MAHENDRA AGRAHARKAR, MD;
AJAY CHOUDHRY, MD;
NATIONAL INTERVENTIONAL
RADIOLOGY PARTNERS, PLLC;
NIRP MANAGEMENT, LLC,
NIRP PASADENA, PLLC,
NIRP SUGARLAND, PLLC
Defendants HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS
CAUSE NO. 18-DCV-257791
DRISONLINE.COM, INC., IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF
Plaintiff,
V.
400TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
ANDREW E. GOMES, MD
Defendant. FORT BEND COUNTY
AFFIDAVIT OF DR. ANDREW GOMES
STATE OF TEXAS §
§
COUNTY OF FORT BEND §
BEFORE ME, the undersigned notary, on this day personally appeared Andrew
Gomes, and after being duly sworn stated under oath:
1 My name is Andrew Gomes. | am over 18 years of age, of sound mind, and
capable of making this Affidavit. The facts stated in this Affidavit are within my
personal knowledge and are true and correct.
lam a Texas State Licensed Board-Certified medical doctor (Diagnostic and
non-Vascular Interventional Radiologist) and the defendant of the
above-captioned matter.
The plaintiff in this cause of action, Drisonline.com, Inc. is owned by an
individual, Sam Alam, a.k.a. Sohail Alam (hereinafter “Sam”).
Sam has sued me not only in this cause of action, but also in a case filed with the
165th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, (Cause No. 2017-43835),
based on the same set of facts | am going to describe below.
During my years in medical school, | was inspired by the entrepreneurs in other
industries and wanted to be one for the medical field.
To prepare myself for the challenge, after residency, | chose to become a locum
tenens physician and expose myself to different healthcare environments. In that
Def. Ex. 1
capacity, | worked in 15 different states. | learned technology, human resource,
policies, etc. in the context of medical operations.
During a time that | worked in the State of Arizona, | had the opportunity to take
over a contract and run a radiology group of my own. | continued to expand my
knowledge on business operation such as billing and finance.
My next contract with another hospital included radiology interventional
procedures. It was here that | realized that the interventional radiology
procedures, particularly the treatment of Peripheral Vascular Disease, was an
area of unmet need in the healthcare space, and thus, something around which a
business could be built.
In working within these hospitals where | managed the radiology contracts, | got
to see first-hand the inefficiencies, errors, and waste that are rampant in a typical
hospital healthcare environment. | knew that it could be done “better, faster, and
cheaper.” An independent, outpatient procedural facility (“Office-Based Lab”)
should be the way to go. It would be free of hospital inefficiency, bureaucracy,
and waste; and could be tailored to provide outstanding clinical results for the
patient; if managed properly, generate profit as any business would, while at the
same time save resource for the government funded healthcare system.
10. During my first seven years of medical practice, | read hundreds of business
books, and took every opportunity to learn as much as | could from every source
available (especially from my own mistakes). | applied this knowledge when |
launched National Interventional Radiology Partners (NIRP) in Houston, TX in
2015.
11 | returned to Houston in late 2013, and teamed up with a few other physicians
including Dr. Ajay Choudhri and Dr. Mahendra Agraharkar as expert consultants,
and | launched NIRP shortly thereafter. NIRP is the product of 20+ years of
medical study, plus front line experience in the trenches in the healthcare
business and operations environment.
12.In early 2015, Sam Alam was introduced to me by a mutual colleague who felt
that he may have something to offer to the NIRP start-up.
13.Sam purports to have been an integral part of multiple healthcare businesses,
and he repeatedly stated to me that he is an “expert” in all things healthcare
business related. He asked me to sign a standard confidentiality agreement,
which was fine with me. After all | had no hidden agenda in dealing with him
other than maybe work together if that becomes the mutual desire at some point.
14. Days later Sam presented me with a “business plan”. It was extensive and many
pages long, but nothing resembled the NIRP model that | had explained to him.,
It appeared to me to be a template which Sam simply inserted our respective
information and forwarded to me.
15. The business plan describes a business model called a “STAC,” - Short Term
Acute Care facility, a place that he envisioned doing surgery, radiology imaging,
lab, and overnight observation of patients as the core business service lines. |
explained to Sam that the treatment of PAD (Peripheral Arterial Disease) in the
OBL (Office-based lab) did not fit at all into this “STAC” idea of his. The
endovascular treatment of PAD is not a surgery, we sent patients out for labs,
and none of our patients stay overnight. The two concepts had nothing in
common.
16.But when Sam doesn’t want to hear something he simply ignores it, he continued
to pound away with his STAC idea. It is worth noting that prior to meeting me,
Sam did not know what PAD was, or what an OBL was. He had zero experience
with either one of these. After two or three meetings with Sam, both Dr.
Agraharkar and Dr. Choudhri felt that it would be waste of time to continue to
speak with Sam. We should focus on our own plan.
17.We continued to develop our model, and in October 2016, we launched our first
facility, NIRP Sugar Land. This was followed soon by NIRP Pasadena in
December 2016.
18.On June 30, 2017, Alam filed the first lawsuit against me with the 165th District
Court of Harris County, Texas, claiming that | defrauded him of proprietary
information from him, or disclosed the said information to third parties without
authorization. He alluded to the confidentiality agreement signed by me, and
demanded monetary damages from me.
19.On December 13, 2018, Alam again failed a lawsuit against me with the 400th
District Court of Fort Bend County, Texas, making substantially the same claims
based on the same set of facts as described above, and demanding monetary
damages from me.
| swear the above statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge
and belief. >
re
go ue em
A
A bene
a
Andrew Gomes, Affiant
National Interventional Radiology
Partners, PLLC
3730 Kirby Drive, Suite 1200
Houston, Texas 77098
(646)596-4926
Swom to and subscribed before me this 2 Othday of January, 2019.
wu Witz,
NV LIYUE HUANG-SIGLE
Jotary Public, State of Texas
jotary Public
My commission expires: 4 / 26/2022 :
= awe
‘omm. Expires 09-28-2022
Notary 1D 131741917
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CAUSE NO. 2017-43 3: SAM ALAM, IN THE DISTRICT COURT Plaintiff, v 165th JUDICIAL DISTRICT ANDREW GOMES, MD; MAHENDRA AGRAHARKAR, MD; AJAY CHOUDHRY, MD; NATIONAL INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY PARTNERS, PLLC; NIRP MANAGEMENT, LLC, NIRP PASADENA, PLLC, NIRP SUGARLAND, PLLC Defendants HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS CAUSE NO. 18-DCV-257791 DRISONLINE.COM, INC., IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF Plaintiff, V. 400TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT ANDREW E. GOMES, MD Defendant. FORT BEND COUNTY AFFIDAVIT OF DR. ANDREW GOMES STATE OF TEXAS § § COUNTY OF FORT BEND § BEFORE ME, the undersigned notary, on this day personally appeared Andrew Gomes, and after being duly sworn stated under oath: 1 My name is Andrew Gomes. | am over 18 years of age, of sound mind, and capable of making this Affidavit. The facts stated in this Affidavit are within my personal knowledge and are true and correct. lam a Texas State Licensed Board-Certified medical doctor (Diagnostic and non-Vascular Interventional Radiologist) and the defendant of the above-captioned matter. The plaintiff in this cause of action, Drisonline.com, Inc. is owned by an individual, Sam Alam, a.k.a. Sohail Alam (hereinafter “Sam”). Sam has sued me not only in this cause of action, but also in a case filed with the 165th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, (Cause No. 2017-43835), based on the same set of facts | am going to describe below. During my years in medical school, | was inspired by the entrepreneurs in other industries and wanted to be one for the medical field. To prepare myself for the challenge, after residency, | chose to become a locum tenens physician and expose myself to different healthcare environments. In that Def. Ex. 1 capacity, | worked in 15 different states. | learned technology, human resource, policies, etc. in the context of medical operations. During a time that | worked in the State of Arizona, | had the opportunity to take over a contract and run a radiology group of my own. | continued to expand my knowledge on business operation such as billing and finance. My next contract with another hospital included radiology interventional procedures. It was here that | realized that the interventional radiology procedures, particularly the treatment of Peripheral Vascular Disease, was an area of unmet need in the healthcare space, and thus, something around which a business could be built. In working within these hospitals where | managed the radiology contracts, | got to see first-hand the inefficiencies, errors, and waste that are rampant in a typical hospital healthcare environment. | knew that it could be done “better, faster, and cheaper.” An independent, outpatient procedural facility (“Office-Based Lab”) should be the way to go. It would be free of hospital inefficiency, bureaucracy, and waste; and could be tailored to provide outstanding clinical results for the patient; if managed properly, generate profit as any business would, while at the same time save resource for the government funded healthcare system. 10. During my first seven years of medical practice, | read hundreds of business books, and took every opportunity to learn as much as | could from every source available (especially from my own mistakes). | applied this knowledge when | launched National Interventional Radiology Partners (NIRP) in Houston, TX in 2015. 11 | returned to Houston in late 2013, and teamed up with a few other physicians including Dr. Ajay Choudhri and Dr. Mahendra Agraharkar as expert consultants, and | launched NIRP shortly thereafter. NIRP is the product of 20+ years of medical study, plus front line experience in the trenches in the healthcare business and operations environment. 12.In early 2015, Sam Alam was introduced to me by a mutual colleague who felt that he may have something to offer to the NIRP start-up. 13.Sam purports to have been an integral part of multiple healthcare businesses, and he repeatedly stated to me that he is an “expert” in all things healthcare business related. He asked me to sign a standard confidentiality agreement, which was fine with me. After all | had no hidden agenda in dealing with him other than maybe work together if that becomes the mutual desire at some point. 14. Days later Sam presented me with a “business plan”. It was extensive and many pages long, but nothing resembled the NIRP model that | had explained to him., It appeared to me to be a template which Sam simply inserted our respective information and forwarded to me. 15. The business plan describes a business model called a “STAC,” - Short Term Acute Care facility, a place that he envisioned doing surgery, radiology imaging, lab, and overnight observation of patients as the core business service lines. | explained to Sam that the treatment of PAD (Peripheral Arterial Disease) in the OBL (Office-based lab) did not fit at all into this “STAC” idea of his. The endovascular treatment of PAD is not a surgery, we sent patients out for labs, and none of our patients stay overnight. The two concepts had nothing in common. 16.But when Sam doesn’t want to hear something he simply ignores it, he continued to pound away with his STAC idea. It is worth noting that prior to meeting me, Sam did not know what PAD was, or what an OBL was. He had zero experience with either one of these. After two or three meetings with Sam, both Dr. Agraharkar and Dr. Choudhri felt that it would be waste of time to continue to speak with Sam. We should focus on our own plan. 17.We continued to develop our model, and in October 2016, we launched our first facility, NIRP Sugar Land. This was followed soon by NIRP Pasadena in December 2016. 18.On June 30, 2017, Alam filed the first lawsuit against me with the 165th District Court of Harris County, Texas, claiming that | defrauded him of proprietary information from him, or disclosed the said information to third parties without authorization. He alluded to the confidentiality agreement signed by me, and demanded monetary damages from me. 19.On December 13, 2018, Alam again failed a lawsuit against me with the 400th District Court of Fort Bend County, Texas, making substantially the same claims based on the same set of facts as described above, and demanding monetary damages from me. | swear the above statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. > re go ue em A A bene a Andrew Gomes, Affiant National Interventional Radiology Partners, PLLC 3730 Kirby Drive, Suite 1200 Houston, Texas 77098 (646)596-4926 Swom to and subscribed before me this 2 Othday of January, 2019. wu Witz, NV LIYUE HUANG-SIGLE Jotary Public, State of Texas jotary Public My commission expires: 4 / 26/2022 : = awe ‘omm. Expires 09-28-2022 Notary 1D 131741917