Barksdale stopped using contract dentists so Dr. Shiplov became an associate of Dr. Larry Weeks in February of 1993 at a dental facility on Monkhouse Drive in Shreveport. As his compensation Dr. Shiplov received fifty percent of Dr. Weeks' collections. After some time Dr. Weeks moved his practice to East 70th Street and Dr. Shiplov continued at this new location for a short time.
Sometime in 1997 Dr. Shiplov, who had returned to full time contract work at Barksdale, was approached by either Dr. Wilkins or Mr. Dudley about coming back to work at the Monkhouse Drive facility. Mr. Dudley, who was not a dentist but a technician who made dentures and other dental prostheses, owned the building. Dr. Wilkins, a dentist, did the denture work at this locationbut he did not do general dentistry. If Dr. Wilkins encountered patients who needed general dentistry work he would refer them to Dr. Shiplov. Dr. Shiplov saw patients on Monkhouse Drive mostly on Saturday mornings two or three times a month.
In addition to the building Mr. Dudley owned the dental chairs and other equipment but Dr. Shiplov provided some of his own instruments. Dr. Shiplov authorized a yellow pages advertisement under his name for 1997. The telephone number in the ad was actually for a telephone listed in Mr. Dudley's name. Dr. Wilkins' name did not appear in the ad, apparently because he was party to a non-competition agreement that precluded his practice of general dentistry. There was another ad the following year but Dr. Shiplov denied authorizing