Dental defamation? Ex-SC Senator claims former business partner fired him without cause
A former S.C. state senator is bracing himself for a legal battle with his former business partner at a Surfside Beach dental practice.
Ray Cleary, who represented the 34th District for three terms until 2016, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Glenns Bay Dental Associates, Joseph “Hal” Capps and Sherri Capps alleging defamation, breach of contract and fraud.
Cleary and Hal Capps were working together at the practice when Capps approached Cleary about purchasing the practice in 2004, which they agreed to do in two parts, according to the lawsuit.
Capps allegedly promised Cleary, who has practiced dentistry in the Grand Strand area more than 40 years, that he could continue working there as long as he wanted.
While Cleary was working with a patient last September, Capps called him into his office, where he and his wife, Sherri, asked Cleary to resign, according to the complaint. When Cleary refused, Capps fired him for “knowingly unjustified allegations of misconduct,” and a security guard led him out of the building, the lawsuit states.
Cleary has continued to practice at various locations since his firing, but Capps and other representatives of Glenns Bay Dental have been falsely telling his former patients that he retired or resigned, and that they have to move because Cleary is evicting them, the lawsuit states.
The practice’s website informs visitors that they will be moving to a new location in February at 8605 Montague Lane in Surfside Beach.
Capps approached Cleary in 2018 about purchasing the building, at 1625 Glenns Bay Road, in 2018, but no agreement was ever reached, the complaint states.
Cleary also alleged an invasion of privacy, claiming Capps viewed and made copies of a personal book containing bank account and personal family information that was stored in his desk.
“It is unfortunate this has occurred after 25 years of working with Dr. Capps and treating him like my son,” Cleary said in a statement.
Capps did not immediately respond to a message left for him at his office.
This isn’t the first time Cleary has been involved in a legal dispute with a former business partner, as he and others involved in the operation of a failed Murrells Inlet restaurant were accused by one partner in 2011 of stealing property from the business. Cleary subsequently sued that business partner for defamation, but dropped the suit months later.
