Federal judges in Kentucky and New York took different tacks in assessing racketeering claims against plaintiff lawyers accused of filing fraudulent cases.
In Kentucky, 3M convinced a judge to allow its suit against lawyers who filed hundreds of lawsuits over respirator masks to proceed, while a New York judge followed her colleagues in dismissing similar allegations by insurance companies.
The Kentucky case centers on allegations plaintiff lawyers worked together to conceal obvious flaws in lawsuits over supposedly defective respirators that caused miners to contract black-lung disease. In its Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) suit, 3M says attorneys Glenn Hammond, Michael Martin and Johnny Givens knowingly filed frivolous suits, then attempted to dismiss them when 3M uncovered the scheme.
The lawsuit survived the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, although U.S. District Judge Robert E. Wier said “3M targets the RICO bazooka at lawyers” with claims that ultimately may be “a heavy lift.”
“The Court has many questions about the ultimate factual viability of the case but will not, at this stage and on this record, dismiss it,” the judge wrote in a Sept. 30 order. By presenting specific evidence of misconduct, including instructing clients to rework filings to get around statute-of-limitations problems, the judge said, 3M can proceed to try and prove its case.
Insurance companies Roosevelt Road and Tradesman Program Managers didn’t fare so well in New York, where a judge said she was compelled to dismiss their RICO suit against plaintiff lawyers because of a Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision in July ruling the insurance companies couldn’t prove they were directly harmed by the alleged scheme.
Roosevelt Road and Tradesman sued a number of law firms and affiliated entities like medical clinics and surgeons, accusing them of filing fraudulent personal-injury suits and directing clients to doctors who perform unnecessary procedures to increase the value of their claims. Legal Newsline has reported extensively on these alleged schemes in New York and elsewhere.
The problem in New York is the insurance companies were barred from claiming direct injury from the alleged racketeering scheme, U.S. District Judge Natasha C. Merle in New York said in a Sept. 29 order. As the Second Circuit ruled in a similar case, only the property owners and employers targeted by the scheme can claim damages, she said.
Other judges in New York have tossed similar claims by insurers and Uber.
In the respirator mask cases, 3M says it has spent millions of dollars defending itself. Hammond, Givens and Martin reached a business agreement to pursue more than 850 claims against 3M filed over an 18-month period, but an errant text complicated the partnership. In 2023, Martin accidentally sent it to one of 3M’s outside lawyers in a Texas case, complaining that Hammond is “hurting our clients with real claims because so many are frivolous.”
In a pattern repeated elsewhere, the lawyers attempted to dismiss problematic cases before 3M could investigate further. After 3M objected, they dropped that effort but Hammond was later accused of hiding incriminating case files.
Judge Wier said the company had supported its claims with enough evidence to survive dismissal.
“The core? 3M alleges the lawyers sought and schemed to ensure claim volume, irrespective of claim merit,” he wrote. “Volume also meant dilution of attention by 3M and a chance to pursue mass settlements, where the wheat and chaff were more difficult to sort.”
The judge rejected the lawyers’ argument RICO doesn’t apply to litigation-related conduct, or that they were protected by the First Amendment.
