Milbank expands defense work for law firms fighting RICO claims

Uber Technologies

09/10/2026 17:52

By David Thomas
Oct 9 (Reuters) - Prominent Wall Street law firm Milbank has taken on at least its third case defending personal injury lawyers against racketeering claims, expanding a niche practice for the firm amid a wave of cases accusing plaintiffs' attorneys of fraudulent litigation.
Its latest client is Asher & Associates, a small Manhattan law firm that was sued by New York City this week for allegedly lodging bogus injury claims by people who falsely attributed their injuries to accidents on the city's roadways. 
Milbank's Matthew Laroche, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor representing the law firm defendants, said in a statement to Reuters that the Asher firm has been "tremendously successful in representing injured New Yorkers," including when New York City fails to maintain its roads and sidewalks.
He called the city's lawsuit, which alleges violations of the federal Racketeer ​Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a "clear attempt to chill that work by recasting ordinary, contested personal injury litigation as racketeering, and by grossly mischaracterizing the facts."
Companies including Uber Technologies and Federal ​Express Corporation have ⁠filed a string of lawsuits invoking civil RICO provisions against plaintiffs' lawyers in US federal courts. Nearly 300 such cases have been filed since 2024, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Tort ⁠Reform ​Association, a pro-business legal advocacy group.
Laroche and Milbank are representing defendants in at least two of the cases, including a lawsuit by Ford Motor Company against Los Angeles-based Knight Law Group for allegedly defrauding the automaker in a years-long overbilling scheme. The Knight firm denies the claims and persuaded a judge to dismiss the case, which Ford is now seeking to revive at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The firm is also representing Edwardsville, Illinois-based Gori Law Firm and its attorneys in a RICO suit brought by plastic pipe maker JM Eagle. That case, which is pending in Illinois federal court, alleges the Gori firm used a "bounty system" to reward attorneys who coached witnesses into providing testimony stating they were exposed to products made by certain defendants. The firm has denied wrongdoing.
In the latest case, New York City cited 15 injury lawsuits brought by the Asher firm, calling them "the tip of ⁠the proverbial iceberg" of allegedly fraudulent claims. 
The lawsuit said the Asher firm works with "runners" who supply it with clients and with unnamed litigation funders in a scheme to defraud the city with false personal injury claims.
Laroche said the city's allegations are baseless and meant to "discourage injured New Yorkers and their lawyers from seeking justice for serious and debilitating injuries."

(Reporting by David Thomas)