NEW ORLEANS – A Louisiana trucking company that was the victim of a staged auto collision with a tractor-trailer that fraudulently generated bodily injury claims has filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the conspirators.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Southeastern Motor Freight in the Eastern District of Louisiana comes in the wake of 11 additional criminal indictments filed by U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser last month. Such staged accidents that defraud trucking and insurance companies have been blamed for contributing to inflated insurance premium costs in the state.
Named as defendants in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit are Danny Patrick Keating Jr., an attorney at the Nugent Keating Law Firm, which filed many of the inflated insurance claims; Damian K. Labeaud, who pleaded guilty to previous charges relating to staged auto accidents; and Mario Solomon, who was convicted in an earlier federal indictment.
The RICO Act is a 1970 federal law designed to blunt organized crime nationwide. The law provides for civil penalties and prosecutions when ongoing criminal enterprises take part in racketeering schemes.
Lana Sonnier Venable, executive director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch, called the trucking company’s lawsuit a fitting turn of events for those who have defrauded trucking companies.
“It is fitting that those seeking to profit from the civil justice system are now defendants, themselves,” Venable told the Louisiana Record in an email. “The real victims here are the trucking companies who are targeted in these schemes alleging personal injury via these staged accidents.”
Southeastern Motor Freight’s complaint alleges that defendants were in close cell phone communications with each other on the day of the staged accident and that the individuals claiming injuries during the accidents sought damages or tens of thousands of dollars each.
“As a direct and proximate result of the defendants’ intentional, willful and wanton actions and conspiracy to commit these intentional, willful and wanton actions while engaged in the racketeering activities (in violation of state law), plaintiff was injured by paying sums of money in the defense of the fraudulent bodily injury claims, and other actual and pecuniary injury and damages which will be shown at the trial on this matter, including treble damages and punitive damages, for which the defendants are liable,” the complaint states.
The defendants also directed the medical treatment of four passengers in the car involved in a June 12, 2017, staged accident with a tractor-trailer in a way that inflated costs to further the racketeering enterprise in a bid to boost fraudulent damages awards, the lawsuit says.
The big-rig that was the target in the June 2017 crash was driven by a Southeastern employee, Michael Smith.