Mamdani Administration Sues a Personal Injury Firm Over Alleged Phony Injury Claims

NYC Mayor Mamdani's administration has filed an 80-page RICO lawsuit against the personal injury firm Asher & Associates, according to the Wall Street Journal. The suit alleged the firm built a niche practice around injury claims that blame the city for roadway defects. The firm did not respond to the Journal's request for comment.

The city's complaint says the firm represents clients "with bona fide personal injuries but caused by unknown or impecunious actors, or self-inflicted." The firm allegedly sought to hold the city responsible for lucrative settlements or judgments anyway.

The complaint details 15 examples in which injured people told medical staff one story while the firm told the city another.

There are striking examples: one motorcyclist told an emergency room that he had hurt his ankle jumping off his bike to avoid a car, yet the firm blamed a “roadway defect” and demanded $3 million. Another man told a hospital that he had been hit with a lead pipe in a fight, while the firm’s filing against the city claimed that he had tripped on a sidewalk.

The city is now highlighting this as a major problem. It alleges the firm is "presently burdening the courts and the City's Law Department" with hundreds of similar cases. The complaint also describes an alleged conspiracy involving unnamed runners who recruit clients and "litigation funders that seek profit from eventual judgments or settlements by fronting litigation expenses."

The cost, however, lands on the people of New York. Taxpayers fund every payout, and every dollar spent on a questionable claim is a dollar not spent on city services. Residents are already stretched thin. Fraudulent claims make that worse, because they push up the cost of coverage and the cost of doing business for everyone. The city says these claims force it "to expend money to defend itself in lawsuits in which the City had no liability as a matter of fact or law." As the Journal's editorial board put it, "Dubious claims increase legal and insurance costs."

This is not a new pattern. A federal lawsuit on Long Island alleged that runners were recruited to stage slip-and-fall accidents on New York sidewalks, then funneled to the same law firm and network of medical providers. Whether the target is a city, a landlord, or an insurer, the allegations follow the same playbook, and the people left holding the bill are consumers and taxpayers.

New Yorkers deserve a legal system that compensates real victims and stops those who would exploit it. Reform advocates across the country should back transparency requirements, tougher penalties for fraud, and policies that end lawsuit abuse.