After unsuccessful mediation attempts, attorneys representing AmSurg Corp. (AMSG) and Surgical Health Group Inc. will meet this Friday to set deadlines for discovery in their case.

Already a lengthy legal battle, and expected to get longer, the suit was brought by AmSurg against two of its former executives and a company they launched in the summer of 2001.

AmSurg claims the pair, Rodney Lunn and Rick Jacques, violated non-compete and non-solicitation agreements that would prohibit them from competing for business with AmSurg or hiring away AmSurg employees. Lunn and Jacques have claimed that because their business plan calls for the development and management of surgery centers, not the ownership of them, that they aren’t competing for business. They’ve also remained adamant that Surgical Health Group is looking for multi-specialty centers, not single-specialty like AmSurg.

Chancery Court Judge Carolyn McCoy has lifted a temporary injunction she granted AmSurg, saying that the company failed to prove that it had lost business to Jacques and Lunn.

Lunn’s non-compete agreement with AmSurg expired June 30 and both men’s non solicitation agreements expire this summer.

Industry sources say the case is expected to go to trial.

Wally Dietz of Bass Berry & Sims is representing AmSurg. The attorney for Lunn, Jacques and their company is Woody Woodruff with Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis.