The only attorney who has so far been charged in an elaborate staged-accident scheme to defraud insurers and trucking companies has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
Danny Patrick Keating Jr., 52, of New Orleans entered the guilty plea last month in the case involving staged vehicle collisions with tractor-trailers in New Orleans, according to U.S. Attorney Duane Evans. In a news release, Keating is described as a personal injury attorney who is licensed to practice in Louisiana.
Damian Labeaud, who last year pleaded guilty to the same charges, referred staged accident cases to Keating, charging the attorney $1,000 per passenger for accidents involving big-rigs, according to Evans’ office. Keating paid tens of thousands of dollars to Labeaud, prosecutors said.
Keating represented 77 plaintiffs in 31 accidents in the New Orleans area that were staged by Labeaud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In turn, the lawsuits made false claims that plaintiffs sustained injuries and made misrepresentations about which party was at fault for the accidents.
Keating and his clients netted about $1.5 million from trucking companies or insurers, and Keating collected $358,000 in attorney fees, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Though Keating is so far the only attorney who has been charged, prosecutors have indicated that other New Orleans personal injury attorneys were involved in the scheme, suggesting that more prosecutions may be in the works.
Lana Sonnier Venable, executive director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch, said the corruption outlined in the case is a key reason why the state continues to be rated as one of the country’s top “Judicial Hellholes” by the American Tort Reform Foundation.
“Ongoing developments in this case continue to expose the scope of this far-reaching illegal scheme to shake down tractor-trailer drivers, trucking companies and their insurance carriers,” Venable said in an email to the Louisiana Record.
She noted that to date, 23 of the 33 indicted defendants have entered guilty pleas during the course of the investigation.
“That an active member of Louisiana’s legal community is involved in this type of exploitation for personal gain, at the expense of the state’s health and insurance industries, is especially concerning,” Venable said.
Keating faces a prison term of up to five years, a possible fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release after completing a prison term.
“Mr. Patrick Keating, a local attorney, took an oath to uphold the United States Constitution and the laws of the state of Louisiana, but instead violated those laws and his oath in order to unjustly enrich himself by engaging in a scheme which resulted in the filing of fraudulent auto and medical insurance claims,” Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams Jr. said in a prepared statement.