The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered a former medical operations head of Belo Medical Group to pay P4.5 million in damages for breaching her non-compete agreement.

The CA Third Division denied Reginal Grace Llorin’s appeal, which sought to reverse the Makati Regional Trial Court’s ruling. The court had directed Llorin to pay BMG P1 million in liquidated damages, P500,000 in moral damages, and P3 million in attorney’s fees and litigation expenses.

The case stems from a civil suit filed by BMG after Llorin resigned and later worked as a consultant for Victoria Skin and Laser Center and Avignon Laser Dermatology.

BMG claimed that Llorin had signed two non-compete agreements, one of which was effective for two years after termination and provided for liquidated damages in case of a breach.

The medical group argued that it had disclosed trade secrets and business information to Llorin during her time with the company.

Llorin contested the authenticity of the agreements and documents she allegedly signed. She argued that even if the agreements were valid, they constituted an unreasonable restraint on her professional practice.

Llorin claimed that BMG did not share trade secrets with her since her role was limited to supervising medical staff and that BMG had not developed its own beauty procedures and services.

In February 2023, the Makati court ruled in favor of BMG, leading Llorin to bring the case to the Court of Appeals.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Jaime Fortunato Caringal on 14 February, the CA affirmed the Makati court’s ruling. The CA noted that Llorin had impliedly admitted the authenticity of the non-compete agreements by failing to deny their validity under oath.

Llorin also failed to prove that her signatures were forged, as she only testified that she could not recall signing the agreements and did not present documents with her authentic signature for comparison.