Can I Solicit Former Clients

I am located in the U.S. in GA,customers are located also in AL,TN,SC, and NC. I am a Medical Gas Verifier ASSE6030 I conduct 3rd party inspections of medical gas systems in hospitals and surgery centers.I work as a 1099 subcontractor with my present company.There must be at least one licensed
Medical Gas Verifier at a company for them to be able to conduct inspections and I am currently the only
verifier where I work.I have never signed No Compete or No Solicitation contracts with my current company.I am familiar with all key people and pricing at the facilities we do business with.I have brought in 75% of our current customer base. I am wanting to leave my current company and start my own business later in November of this year.I am leaving because of non-payment of commissions owed to me
and a lack of code enforcement on the part of the current owner/boss. My questions are can I legally go
after these customers?(I am sure nearly all would go with me.) Secondly can I legally tell these customers
that they cannot have any work performed by my current company after I leave since they will not have a licensed medical gas verifier on staff once I'm gone? There are a limited number of hospitals/customers in each state so there is no way I can not compete with my former company the customer base is very limited.Thanks for any advice in this matter!!!

You are not supposed to directly solicit past customers. But you can tell them you are leaving etc. and what you are doing. If they follow that is their choice.

[SuperDuck]

That is something you want to stay away from doing.