NEW ORLEANS – A second trucking company that was scammed during a wide-ranging conspiracy to stage traffic accidents has filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against several defendants, including the King Law Firm and manager-attorney Jason Giles.
C.R. England Inc., a Utah-based trucking company, filed the federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Louisiana over an Oct. 13, 2015, accident that led to criminal indictments being filed against Louisiana residents Anthony Robinson, Audrey Harris, Jerry Schaffer and Keishira Robinson, all of whom are listed as defendants in the civil lawsuit.
Also named as a defendant was Damian K. Labeaud, who was previously indicted for his role as a “slammer” in the staging of accidents.
Attorney Douglas Williams
Last August, Louisiana-based Southeastern Motor Freight filed a similar federal lawsuit based on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a 1970 federal law targeting organized crime enterprises. That lawsuit seeks to recover fraudulent funds paid out for medical expenses and legal fees as a result of a 2017 staged accident.
“C.R. England is part of the community of motor carriers that is committed to exposing these criminal enterprises and pursuing any plaintiffs, attorneys or other co-conspirators who engage in similar fraudulent activity,” Douglas Williams, the Baton Rouge attorney who filed the lawsuit, told the Louisiana Record in an email. “The staging of fraudulent accidents, and the filing of civil suits to pursue fraudulent damage claims, is a significant threat to the public trust in our judicial system.”
As a result of the 2015 staged accident that snared a C.R. England tractor trailer, the company paid out more than $2 million of a settlement awarded to car passengers and the personal-injury law firm, according to the lawsuit. The balance of the $4.7 million settlement paid out to defendants in the case came from insurer ACE American, a subsidiary of Chubb Limited, the claim states.
“C.R. England Inc. was injured by paying sums of money in the settlement of the fraudulent bodily injury claims herein and attorney’s fees, costs and expenses in the investigation and defense of the fraudulent bodily injury claims, in addition to damage to its reputation, lost income, internal expenses, increase in insurance premiums, and other actual and pecuniary injury and damages which will be shown at the trial on this matter …” the lawsuit says.
A total of 33 people have been indicted in the enterprise, and 15 people have entered guilty pleas for their roles in scamming trucking firms and their insurers, according to the complaint.
The C.R. England case will advance unless the district court stays the civil lawsuit as criminal cases play out, Williams said.
“C.R. England believes that anyone who participates in these schemes should be prosecuted, and that any attorneys who participate should also be permanently disbarred,” he said.