there was an old thread about why it wasn't smart to make a federal judge angry. a Houston first party insurance firm may have beaten those patent trolls in really pissing off a magistrate judge:
(can't find a free copy online, sorry. here is link to docket)
summary of what they did:
After Ida, Firm hires Roofer to go to Homeowners to offer to do repairs. Roofer has Homeowner sign assignment of benefits to them, meaning they work for free and only get paid when Insurer pays Homeowner. That part is not uncommon.
Firm then sends Insurer letter saying they have been retained by Homeowner to represent they for all claims related to Ida. Insurer then stops communicating with Homeowner as they have been told they have counsel. At least 850 cases signed up like this. Firm settles lawsuits, cuts checks to Roofer and keeps its 40% contingency fee. so far, only 9 have been known to settle. one of which, Firm signed Homeowner's name on settlement without permission.
Doesn't end there. Firm also paid an internet Marketing Company $3000-$3500 per contract it delivered them for LA Ida cases. Homeowners searches "hurricane insurance lawyer" or something similar in google, Marketing Company has paid for SEO so its name is at the top couple of hits. Homeowner signs a contract with Firm sent over by Marketing Company without every talking to anyone from Firm. A lawyer cannot pay a non-lawyer money for sending it cases. That is case running. It can pay for being sent leads. So if Marketing Company had told Homeowners "hey, call this Firm, they may be able to help you" then money can be paid for that service, but not on a case-by-case basis.
Marketing Company did this about 4,200 times, receiving over $13mm in fees from Firm. So what was Firm making? We don't know. Yet. And I stress yet because they are going to have to potentially pay all of it back.
(can't find a free copy online, sorry. here is link to docket)
Quote:
When ego and greed become lawyers' guiding principles, we get cases like Franatovich versus Allied Trust.
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We now know that the profound damage from Hurricane Ida an historically destructive and life-altering event for many was far from over when the storm finally drifted off the Atlantic Coast in September 2021. Thanks to out-of-state opportunists like the lawyers of McClenny, Moseley & Associates and their far-flung agents of chaos, the damage was only just beginning.
Since first appearing in this District less than a year ago, McClenny, Moseley & Associates, PLLC ("MMA") and its attorneys, in particular Zach Moseley ("Moseley") and R. William Huye, III ("Huye"), have engaged in a pattern of misconduct on a scale likely never before seen here.
***
They have lied to numerous insurance carriers claiming to represent insureds who had never heard of them; they have invoked appraisal and even filed lawsuits on behalf of people they knew they did not represent; they have, through non-lawyer agents in faraway places, directly solicited insureds who had never previously reached out to them; they have filed cases in multiple districts on behalf of insureds they did represent in which they sued the wrong insurance company; they have paid millions of dollars to an advertising firm to act as their agent to "deliver" pre-screened clients and signed contingency-fee agreements to their firm at a rate of $3,500.00 per contract; they have failed to disclose known conflicts to potential clients; and they have lied to the judge in open court.
If only this were hyperbole alas, it is all established fact, proven by MMA's own statements and documents they have produced that are now in the record. I've been a lawyer for 25 years I have never seen a clearer or more shameless series of violations of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 and the Rules of Professional Conduct than what confronts us here.
***
William Huye, Zach Moseley, and McClenny, Moseley & Associates have been nothing less than a scourge on this State and its citizens, the Court, and the Bar. The process of addressing that scourge is well underway: Huye was recently suspended by the Louisiana Supreme Court on an interim basis for threat of harm to the public. (See In re: Richard William Huye, III, NO. 2023-B-0277, La., Mar. 3, 2023). The law firm MMA and its attorneys were likewise suspended by Judge Cain in the Western District of Louisiana on an interim basis, also for threat of harm to the public. (See Rec. doc. 14 in Civ. No. 21-cv-2258,W.D. La., filed July 30, 2021). I will be recommending Huye for similar discipline based upon the misconduct catalogued above
summary of what they did:
After Ida, Firm hires Roofer to go to Homeowners to offer to do repairs. Roofer has Homeowner sign assignment of benefits to them, meaning they work for free and only get paid when Insurer pays Homeowner. That part is not uncommon.
Firm then sends Insurer letter saying they have been retained by Homeowner to represent they for all claims related to Ida. Insurer then stops communicating with Homeowner as they have been told they have counsel. At least 850 cases signed up like this. Firm settles lawsuits, cuts checks to Roofer and keeps its 40% contingency fee. so far, only 9 have been known to settle. one of which, Firm signed Homeowner's name on settlement without permission.
Doesn't end there. Firm also paid an internet Marketing Company $3000-$3500 per contract it delivered them for LA Ida cases. Homeowners searches "hurricane insurance lawyer" or something similar in google, Marketing Company has paid for SEO so its name is at the top couple of hits. Homeowner signs a contract with Firm sent over by Marketing Company without every talking to anyone from Firm. A lawyer cannot pay a non-lawyer money for sending it cases. That is case running. It can pay for being sent leads. So if Marketing Company had told Homeowners "hey, call this Firm, they may be able to help you" then money can be paid for that service, but not on a case-by-case basis.
Marketing Company did this about 4,200 times, receiving over $13mm in fees from Firm. So what was Firm making? We don't know. Yet. And I stress yet because they are going to have to potentially pay all of it back.