NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - The man suing a Houston firm for allegedly secretly representing him in dealings with his insurance company fails to allege a legal marketing company's connection to what he calls a "vast scheme."
Louis Carter III has filed a class action against McClenny Mosely & Associates, roofing company Apex and marketing company Velawcity, the latter of which filed a motion to dismiss on April 3 in New Orleans federal court.
The suit alleges Apex approached homeowners who suffered hurricane damage and convinced them to sign an Assignment of Benefits that allowed the company to negotiate directly with the homeowners insurer.
However, Apex allegedly enlisted MMA to do that work, which resulted in a fee that homeowners didn't know about. The lawsuit also alleged Velawcity reached out to potential clients with MMA's engagement letter and was paid nearly $14 million for at least 4,628 clients.
The communications were unsolicited and misrepresented that Velawcity was a law firm, the suit says.
"Plaintiffs complaint makes only vague allegations regarding Velawcity's general business dealings, untethered to any allegation of interaction with the named plaintiff Louis Carter," the company's motion to dismiss says.
"The complaint is silent as to whether Mr. Carter suffered any type of economic harm stemming from any act by Velawcity that would be redressable by any cause of action he alleges."
The complaint fails to allege an injury-in-fact, a causal nexus or redressability, Velawcity says.
"Even if Velawcity had contacted Mr. Carter, Plaintiff fails to allege that such contact caused even a hypothetical injury," the motion says.
The alleged scheme has brought trouble for the MMA, particularly William Huye, the managing attorney of its Louisiana office.
Huye was temporarily suspended from practicing law in March, with Judge James Cain citing "ongoing misconduct" and a failure to properly document expenses for settlement approval.
Carter says an Apex representative approached him about roof damage suffered at his house following Hurricane Ida. The rep told him he could pay Apex a $500 deductible to fix the roof, then sign an Assignment of Benefits that permitted Apex to "get the ball rolling" on the insurer assessing the damage, the suit says.
Carter alleges this AOB contained no mention of MMA. The insurer, meanwhile, said the damage to the roof was nowhere as severe as Apex claimed.
"Eventually, Plaintiff was able to speak to the adjuster who inspected his property, who informed him off the record that his insurance company had been served with a letter of representation by MMA, who claimed that Plaintiff was their client, so the insurance company was no longer able to speak to Plaintiff directly," the suit says.
"This was the first time Plaintiff had ever heard of MMA or heard that it was claiming to represent him."
After weeks of trying to contact MMA, Carter finally told an attorney there that he did not want MMA representing him, the suit says. Carter preferred to handle the insurance claim himself.
Ultimately, MMA sent a "Notice of Withdrawal of Representation" to the insurer, the suit says. Carter said this was inappropriate, as he had never hired it in the first place.
"Plaintiff's experience dealing with MMA and Apex is similar to the experience of countless others across the State of Louisiana who had run-ins with Apex and MMA, and serves as one example of the schemes perpetrated by Defendants that have caused damage to the class of persons alleged in this petition," the suit says.