Personal Injury Lawyer Faces RICO Charges After Staging Truck Accidents

Yes, the livelihood of a personal injury lawyer is dependent on someone being injured by no fault of their own. However, we don’t go out and create accidents to build our practice. We build our practice by fighting passionately for our clients whose lives are forever changed because of a major traffic accident.

One Louisiana law firm is now the target of a RICO investigation, usually withheld for major criminal enterprises. Federal authorities, however, feel this was a major criminal enterprise bent on bilking the trucking industry of millions of dollars in junk claims.

The Scam

In order to pull off this scam, you need one lawyer, one doctor, and a boatload of people willing to sacrifice their lives for $1,000 per accident. Spotters would essentially cause accidents with tractor-trailers and then file claims against the companies. The lawyer would litigate the claims and the doctor would report that their injuries were more severe than they actually were. The spotters would each be given $1,000 per accident, but these claims could be worth a minimum $30,000 each. The lawyer knew what he was doing was illegal, the doctor knew that he was distorting the amount of harm to defraud the trucking industry, and the spotters knew that they were endangering their lives for very little money.

The Trucking Industry

The trucking industry is the target of billions in lawsuits each year. While most of these lawsuits have merit, some of them don’t. In a truck accident lawsuit, you are required to prove that the truck driver was responsible for the accident, at least partly. Hence, the drivers were expected to make the accidents look as if they were the truck driver’s fault. This isn’t easy because the truck accidents weren’t the truck driver’s fault, they were the fault of the other driver who caused the accident.

Meanwhile, the trucking industry is getting hit with more claims than before as the roads become less crowded due to COVID restrictions. While the overall number of accidents is significantly lower than it was in 2019, these accidents tend to be more serious, are more likely to be deadly, and often involve commercial tractor-trailers. Insurers for these companies have taken a beating this year as more claims against the industry involve irreparable harm to other drivers or death.

For that reason, many legislators are attempting to protect the trucking industry in exactly the same manner that they protect the health care industry, by limiting damages in lawsuits against them or severely curtailing when a lawsuit can be filed. This personal injury attorney will become the poster child for new legislation targeting personal injury attorneys and the clients they represent to limit damages and actions against the logistics industry.

Talk to a Florida Tractor-Trailer Accident Attorney Today

The Coral Gables tire defect attorneys at Halpern, Santos & Pinkert won’t help you cause an accident, but we can help you recover damages when a negligent truck driver causes your injuries. Call us today to schedule a free consultation and discuss your injuries in more detail.

Resource:

wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/mike-perlstein/the-king-lawfirm-federal-charges-18-wheeler-accidents-scam/289-5542048f-971f-4af2-917d-b940a8103260

https://www.tiredefectattorney.com/inflated-medical-costs-among-gripes-of-trucking-company-insurers/