In a significant legal development, Kelly Cook and Esther Kelley-Cook have initiated a class action RICO lawsuit against Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and The Law Offices of Kanner & Pintaluga, P.A. (“K&P”), a Florida-based law firm, in the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 4:24-cv-4423). The plaintiffs allege that the defendants engaged in unethical practices by sharing the personal information of crash victims for solicitation purposes, raising serious questions about ethical standards in the legal and insurance sectors.
The complaint outlines a troubling incident where the plaintiffs were contacted shortly after experiencing a no-injury collision, which resulted in minor property damage. They received unsolicited calls from a "case runner," an individual employed by K&P to recruit clients using personal information obtained from Progressive. During these calls, the plaintiffs were offered legal representation and assured a minimum recovery of $10,000 for retaining the law firm. K&P allegedly informed the plaintiffs that their contact information had been shared by Progressive through an existing agreement between the insurance provider and the law firm.
The plaintiffs are asserting claims under RICO violations, Texas’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, highlighting the defendants' actions as illegal, unethical, and fraudulent.
As the case progresses, new revelations have surfaced regarding the extent of the alleged fraudulent solicitation tactics employed by K&P. A whistleblower letter suggests that K&P may be involved in a case running scheme orchestrated by Accident Solutions, a Florida for-profit corporation. This entity is accused of impersonating various law firms, including K&P, and utilizing pre-signed blank retainer packets to solicit clients directly. Many of these clients are immigrants who are misled into believing that they are communicating with or receiving calls from Progressive.
The whistleblower's letter further claims that employees of Accident Solutions inform clients they are being assigned attorneys and promise monetary compensation or guaranteed results in exchange for their cooperation. It has come to light that K&P reportedly paid Accident Solutions over $100,000 per month for signed case packets, with each lead costing as much as $5,000—a practice that allegedly continues until late 2024.
The letter also indicates that K&P is not the only law firm benefiting from the practices of Accident Solutions, providing a list of other firms purportedly complicit in these fraudulent solicitation tactics.
This case underscores significant ethical concerns surrounding solicitation practices and the responsibilities of law firms and insurance companies in managing sensitive personal information. As developments unfold, Callahan & Fusco will closely monitor the lawsuit, given its potential implications for both the legal and insurance industries.