By Ray McCarty, President/CEO, Associated Industries of Missouri
July 23, 2024 - Plaintiffs' firms and their association, the Missouri Assn. of Trial Attorneys (MATA), have consistently fought against Associated Industries of Missouri (AIM) and other business groups as we lobby for legislation that would bring transparency to asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits. These law firms are also contributing to Republicans' campaigns in a big way.
One company that has been the victim of such lawsuits has apparently had enough and decided to fight back. J-M Manufacturing Company, Inc., one of the largest plastic pipe manufacturers in the United States with more than 800 employees across the country, filed a racketeering, fraud, unjust enrichment, and conspiracy lawsuit against one prominent law firm, Simmons Hanly Conroy, LLP, and several individual attorneys.
REFORM LEGISLATION BLOCKED BY LEGISLATORS SUPPORTED BY SIMMONS HANLY CONROY AND OTHER PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY FIRMS
Asbestos lawsuit reform has been one of the business community's tort reform efforts for many years. As makers of asbestos went bankrupt, their assets were placed in trusts to be used to pay claims using a simplified claims process. Recent versions of legislation supported by AIM would require notice from the plaintiff to the judge (and jury, if applicable) of the amount of money the plaintiff could receive under that simplified claims process. Currently, plaintiffs' attorneys file a civil suit against a business that is still in business, attempt to achieve a settlement or award, then file the claim against one or more of the trusts. That means judges and/or juries are not aware the plaintiff is entitled to money from another source, leading to potentially larger awards and settlements.
Plaintiffs' attorneys and MATA have opposed these bills. They are regularly the only opposition to this and other tort reform bills.
In recent sessions, tort reform bills have been filibustered and blocked by in the Missouri Senate by several senators led by Senator Bill Eigel and the Missouri Freedom Caucus. Now a candidate for governor, Eigel has received more than a million dollars in political contributions from many plaintiffs' firms, including Simmons Hanly Conroy - the same plaintiffs' firm that is named in the racketeering and fraud lawsuit. The Simmons Hanly Conroy law firm alone contributed $55,000 to Bill Eigel since June 30, 2023.
House tort reform legislation has also been delayed and blocked. Interestingly, Speaker of the House Dean Plocher received a $5,000 check from Simmons Hanly Conroy on June 27, 2024. The House Speaker is responsible for assigning bills to committees in the House and determining which bills will advance from committee to be considered by the full House of Representatives. Speaker Plocher is term limited and running for Secretary of State.
THE RICO LAWSUIT
You may be familiar with the RICO statute that was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on October 15, 1970, because it is used to prosecute organized crime figures. But there is also a civil component that targets the same patterns of behavior - working in coordination with others to damage a business or property. Both types of lawsuits can result in triple damages being awarded to the plaintiff (or the government).
The 89-page complaint was filed by plaintiff J-M Manufacturing Company, Inc. (“J-M Manufacturing”) against Simmons Hanly Conroy, LLP (“Simmons Hanly”) and others, claiming they engaged in "a multi-year pattern of racketeering activity in which the Simmons Hanly Defendants filed sham lawsuits, pursued baseless claims, and otherwise sought to extract money from J-M Manufacturing through a pattern of fraud, coercion, and the suppression of evidence."
The lawsuit cites a former Simmons Hanly partner (Scott Peebles) who alleges Simmons Hanly engaged in a pattern of unlawful, unethical and fraudulent conduct to gain the upper hand in asbestos litigation, including "the use of false statements of fact, the subornment of perjury, and other acts of moral turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption." The complaint alleges the firm and its professionals have filed thousands of cases and won billions from companies - including hundreds of cases against J-M Manufacturing. J-M Manufacturing claims Simmons Hanly used "a coordinated, well-developed, and long-running strategy that involves evidence suppression, shifting narratives, and fraud." The complaint says the law firm has received more than $3 billion from such cases.
The complaint details the specific strategy used by Simmons Hanly (and other firms) to allege exposure to asbestos from companies that are in business today, while downplaying exposure from companies that are bankrupt. Some of the tactics listed in the complaint include fabrications of work records, fraudulent affidavits of asbestos exposure, including defendant companies in lawsuits that were not related to the plaintiff's exposure at all, etc. In some cases, the companies listed as defendants were not even in existence at the time of the alleged exposure, products made by the companies were not used at all by the plaintiffs, and the complaint alleges Simmons Hanly knew about these facts but continued with the litigation anyway.
RELIEF REQUESTED
The lawsuit asks for
Compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial;
Trebled damages attributable to the RICO claims as permitted by federal law;
Punitive damages on damages attributable to common law fraud and conspiracy;
Repayment of amounts received unjustly by Simmons Hanly and related attorneys;
Attorney's fees, costs, pre- and post-judgment interest; and,
An injunction prohibiting further perpetration of the fraudulent scheme against J-M Manufacturing.
To read the full complaint, click HERE.
Comments