Company sues ex-employee over contract

YOUNGSTOWN -- A California company says a former employee improperly took over its $1 million contract to run heart-lung bypass machines during open heart surgery at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
The Extracorporeal Alliance of San Diego filed a lawsuit recently in U.S. District Court in Youngstown against Michael Rosteck, seeking damages of more than $75,000. Rosteck could not be reached to comment.
The California company said Rosteck violated a provision in his contract that prohibited him from competing with it for one year after leaving its employment.
The suit says Rosteck was chief perfusionist and clinical manager at St. Elizabeth for the California company. When Rosteck was denied a promotion to regional vice president last year, he started to form his own company called Advanced Perfusion to take over the St. Elizabeth business, the suit says.
Rosteck told the California company last month that he was resigning and that his new company had a long-term contract with the hospital that was to start in September, the suit says.