2 weeks Ago By Brandon Vigliarolo
A group of pediatric dental practices in North Carolina have accused a longtime contractor of refusing to return control of several web domains after his contract was terminated. A dozen-plus dental practices operating under the NC Pediatric Dentistry (NCPD) brand - mostly owned by dentist Dr David Thome - sued [PDF] business consultant James McGarvey and his outfit Stonepath Pedo LLC for allegedly refusing to relinquish control of nine domain names tied to the clinics' websites. Thome's relationship with McGarvey went south in late 2023, when McGarvey's contract was ended for a "material and substantial failure to perform [his] duties and obligations," according to the NCPD lawsuit, filed this month in a Mecklenburg county superior court.
In October 2024, the dental clinics' websites temporarily went offline following a HostGator outage. As the clinics worked to transfer control of their domains to a new IT vendor, they discovered McGarvey was still listed as the primary user on the HostGator account — and the only one with access to the domain transfer codes, according to the complaint. NCPD requested McGarvey hand them over.
At first, he complied, transferring 17 domains, the dentists say. However, at least nine domains remained under McGarvey's control, it is claimed. He insisted in a March 2025 email that he wouldn't release the domains until Thome bought out his 50 percent stake in NCPD Leasing, a separate firm they created together in 2013 to handle administrative tasks for the clinics, it is alleged.
McGarvey initially claimed he owned the domains because they were registered through his personal HostGator account, it is said. But the suit claims he did so without authorization and argue the domains have always belonged to the dental practices, which paid for them, and not to McGarvey personally - nor to NCPD Leasing, the joint venture. "Defendants were independent contractors and registered and maintained the Domains on behalf of the NCPD Practice Entities .
.. at no time did the NCPD Practice Entities relinquish ownership or control of the Domains to Defendants or to NCPD Leasing," the lawsuit states.
The clinics are asking the US court for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent McGarvey from making changes to the domains — and to compel their return. While McGarvey has yet to respond to the April 16 complaint , a letter from his attorney David Stevens – included as Exhibit I in the lawsuit – challenges the basis of the claims, questions who exactly the plaintiffs are, and disputes whether any domains were unlawfully withheld in the first place. The letter also claims Thome and his wife created a new company, NCPD LASD, in February 2024 with the intent of stripping assets from the joint venture McGarvey and Thome founded.
"Since the creation of LASD fourteen months ago, Dr Thome and his new wife ...
have been systematically gutting financial assets, employees, and equipment from Leasing and converting them to LASD's use," McGarvey's lawyer alleged, adding all of this drama "is nothing more than another effort by the Thomes and LASD to pilfer assets which belong to Leasing, and therefore Mr McGarvey." Stevens also claimed Thome used funds from the joint venture — without McGarvey's consent — to pay legal bills tied to the formation of LASD, and that they still owe $400,000 to Stonepath Pedo for services under the terminated agreement. As is so often the case in these situations, it'll be up to a judge to suss out the truth from the bad blood between the parties, neither of whom responded to questions for this story.
®.
