Physicians could have used a second opinion.

• Position: Triangle Medical and Surgical Associates lawsuit against its partner Balubhai Patel

There may be honor among thieves, but it might be a different matter among doctors. Five Triangle physicians say one of their own cheated them by hiding that he was the seller in a real-estate deal he arranged.

Balubhai Patel, a Cary kidney specialist, agreed in February to buy 215 acres from Merisel Inc., a California computer company. He would pay $7.25 million - $33,000 an acre - for land in Regency Park, a Cary residential and office development.

He then arranged to sell 29 acres to the docs for $2.9 million - $100,000 an acre. Sounds like smart business, right?

Trouble is, the buyers were his partners in Triangle Medical & Surgical Associates, which owns the building that houses their practices. In a lawsuit, they say he hid his identity as the seller behind a series of companies. He created Triangle Regency LLC to do the deal with Merisel. It, in turn, is owned by Krishna of Raleigh LLC, which Patel owns with his wife, and Shanta Family LLC, which he owns with his child.

His partners say they knew none of that when he pitched the property as an investment for their business, in which Patel is a 25% owner. When it came time to sign the papers...