Two national home hospice providers are grappling for Maine territory in a federal lawsuit that claims an employee violated noncompetition and confidentiality agreements.

Atlanta-based Gentiva Hospice says a former employee of its Brewer operation shared client referral sources and other proprietary information when she helped Utah-based Bristol Hospice set up shop in Bangor last summer, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Gentiva alleges that Erica Lilly, a registered nurse administrator, shared “trade secrets” when she went to work for Bristol last spring – in violation of federal and state law – and that she contacted numerous former coworkers “for the specific purpose of inducing them to leave their employment at Gentiva and become employees at Bristol.”

One former coworker said Lilly told her “because of my noncompete, I won’t be able to recruit (you) myself, so if someone else calls, answer the phone.” The former coworker also said Lilly told her Bristol was “building out” its team and would be “reaching out to good people.”

The lawsuit also claims Lilly and other Bristol employees have made false and misleading statements to hospitals and other referral sources about Gentiva’s staffing levels and operations, including that Gentiva is closed to admissions and has asked that clients be referred to Bristol.

“The false statements by Lilly and Bristol continue to spread throughout the community and continue to have a negative impact on confidence in Gentiva’s operations and reputation,” the lawsuit states. “Gentiva has suffered damages in the form of, among other things, lost goodwill, lost public confidence, and lost referrals and clients, as well as monetary damages.”

Gentiva is seeking a jury trial and a court order directing Lilly to stop working for Bristol or any similar organization within 75 miles of Brewer. The lawsuit also demands that Lilly and Bristol stop using and return Gentiva documents, cease making false statements about Gentiva, and compensate the company for financial losses resulting from their actions.

Lawyers for Gentiva, Bristol and Lilly declined to be interviewed for this story.

Gentiva claims Lilly signed agreements when she was hired in August 2022 promising that, when she left the company, she wouldn’t share its confidential information, work for a similar company within 75 miles or solicit Gentiva employees to leave the company for 18 months.

Lilly also promised “to refrain from soliciting Gentiva’s customers, patients or referral sources to cease or reduce their business with Gentiva or send business to a competitor of Gentiva,” the complaint states.

However, within a month after she left Gentiva in April, Lilly went to work 5 miles away at Bristol, where she is hospice executive director with duties “substantially similar to those she performed during her employment with Gentiva,” the company claims.

The lawsuit alleges that Lilly used Gentiva’s patient and referral lists, history and records to solicit and acquire patient referrals for Bristol that otherwise would have been referred to Gentiva.

She also used Gentiva’s confidential pricing and business information as a baseline for setting and adjusting Bristol’s prices or benefits for current and prospective patients in various geographic regions in Maine, the lawsuit states.

And she and Bristol adopted various proprietary and confidential contracts, forms and other patient documents that were written and used by Gentiva, the company claims.

Gentiva offers hospice care in 38 states; it sold its personal care operations to Addus HomeCare this year for $350 million, according to Ropes & Gray, an international law firm that advised the company on the sale.

Bristol also has operations nationwide, although its Maine venture wasn’t listed on its website Friday.