Is New York the epicenter of civil RICO insurance cases? A civil liability lobby group says yes

The American Tort Reform Association, the insurance-backed lobby to change civil liability laws, is raising alarms about an increasing trend of using civil racketeering actions to combat alleged litigation fraud, and has targeted New York as an epicenter of this litigation. ATRA released a report this month, titled “Turning the Tables?” that highlights numerous cases in which businesses and insurers have turned to the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act to combat alleged litigation fraud and coordinated personal injury schemes. The report alleges that, in more than two dozen cases, businesses and insurers have invoked RICO statute originally designed to combat organized crime—to challenge what they allege are coordinated plans to commit litigation fraud. New York, the report claims, is an epicenter of the practice. “New York is in a league of its own. Every kind of scheme shows up here: staged construction accidents, trip-and-falls, auto accidents, even