Friends,
Staged accident rings are nothing new. Texas has dealt with several cases over the years — a 2007 ring in North Texas; the 2011 “swoop and stop” scheme in Houston; and the largest scheme in Dallas County history. The National Insurance Crime Bureau investigates these fraud rings regularly and has previously flagged Houston as a hotbed of activity. For 20 years, the FBI has warned that staged auto accident fraud is a cautionary tale.
In 2025, Texas ranked among the Top 5 states for staged accident fraud, and Houston ranked among the top cities for staged accident claims. The real problem: These are the schemes we know about. What about all the fraud that still makes it into Texas civil courts?
A new report out this month highlights a growing concern for business: outsized verdicts jumped another 40% in 2025, and Texas led the nation (ahead of California, Florida, and New York) with more than $3.4 billion in nuclear verdicts. These verdicts are tied to more than just traffic accidents — Oil & Gas, Agriculture, Hospitality, etc. — and the trend is alarming enough that businesses and Texas families are getting more vocal about lawsuit abuse and rising costs.
Lawsuit abuse can take many forms, all of which hurt affordability for hard-working Texans. By supporting legal reforms, Texas can stop the fraud driving up costs for insurance, groceries, and other essential day-to-day items.
For the future of Texas,
Ryan Patrick
CEO | TLR
RICO Lawsuits Gaining Momentum Around the US
Medical billing fraud continues to be a problem in courts across the country. Major employers like Uber, FedEx, and State Farm are fighting back with RICO lawsuits targeting the networks of billboard lawyers and the medical care providers operating under Letters of Protection. Since the 1970s, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) has been used to dismantle corrupt organizations like the mob, giving prosecutors a way to target criminal enterprises and private parties a way to protect their business interests. This week, a judge in California rejected an attempt to dismiss the case — in January, the Texas Fifth Circuit allowed Allstate to move forward with its RICO suit against a network of Houston-based medical providers.
These lawsuits have seen mixed results, with cases dismissed and later revived. According to the article, in May, Uber and FedEx were allowed to proceed with a lawsuit in Pennsylvania after a judge ruled a personal injury lawyer and the law firm must answer for the claims made by Uber. Last week, a New York judge dismissed a similar RICO lawsuit filed by Uber. The Texas Department of Insurance’s Fraud Unit has the authority to investigate and work with law enforcement to prosecute fraudulent medical billing and staged-accidents. But as a retired Insurance Department Investigator told me recently, TDI is often under-resourced, and finding a local DA’s office to take their cases can be difficult because of the subject matter and complexity.
TLR will continue to monitor these cases and will provide updates as the courts proceed.
Records and trial testimony show how medical financing companies and a legal referral business helped masked the alleged conspiracy
When is a lawsuit frivolous? According to federal prosecutors, it’s when a disbarred lawyer still manages to be at the center of a massive fraud ring targeting truck drivers through staged accidents. Dozens of individuals have been convicted — including the two lawyers and their law firms at the center of the staged accident ring — in the decade-long scheme in Louisiana.
A murder trial continues this week for Sean Alfortish, a former lawyer who had his license revoked and yet managed to be one of the ringleaders in Operation Sideswipe. Prosecutors say Alfortish, who is accused of orchestrating the murder of a key witness in the investigation, owned and operated several businesses tied to the frivolous lawsuits generated from the staged accidents:
Affiliated Management, connected people who’d been in truck wrecks with attorneys who promised to secure hefty lawsuit payouts
Total Medical Concepts, financed claimants’ medical procedures
MedPort, a Nevada-based company, which paid commissions to Alfortish as a contractor and also provided financing for claimants’ medical procedures
JA Trust, held stakes in Alfortish’s other firms and drew a share of the revenues
Prosecutors link Alfortish to the companies, which they say served as avenues for massive fraud. Click here to read more about Operation Sideswipe and the network that fueled dozens of frivolous lawsuits.
New report keeps Texas near the top of national ranking list for most nuclear verdicts — $3.4 billion in 2025
Georgia beats Texas. Nope, we’re not talking college football. A new report from Marathon Strategies ranked Texas courts No. 2, behind Georgia, for combined nuclear verdicts in 2025. Georgia ($4.9 billion) delivered sweeping legal reforms during the 2025 legislative session and saw auto carriers’ insurance premiums begin to dip. At the same time, nuclear verdicts rose dramatically in Georgia and nationally — surging nearly 41% from the previous year.
In the report, Texas received high marks for legal reforms passed in 2017 to curb abusive lawsuits following severe storms. The legislature, however, received poor marks for failing to deliver meaningful reforms in the 2025 session. Click here to read the full report to see how other states compare to Texas courts.
