Uber gets green light to pursue racketeering case against Philadelphia lawyer

By David Thomas

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies UBER.N can pursue civil racketeering claims against a Philadelphia-based lawyer even though the company's insurer footed its defense bills in a series of allegedly fraudulent personal injury lawsuits, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

US District Judge Mark Kearney in Philadelphia held that the rideshare giant has standing to pursue its case against Marc Simon and his firm Simon & Simon. Uber alleges the law firm worked with doctors and other providers to file fraudulent personal injury claims against it and Federal Express Corporation FDX.N. Simon and his firm have denied wrongdoing.

"Uber did not relinquish its standing to sue parties who bring fraudulent claims against it by purchasing liability insurance and permitting its conduit, Farmers, to issue payments on its behalf," Kearney wrote in his 14-page ruling.

An Uber spokesperson said in a statement that Kearney's ruling "makes clear that Uber can continue pursuing its racketeering claims, and we remain confident in our case."

A spokesperson for Simon & Simon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case is scheduled to go to trial in March.

Uber and FedEx have mounted similar lawsuits against law firms in federal courts in Los Angeles, Miami and New York alleging lawyers worked in conjunction with medical providers to file bogus and exaggerated claims against them. Kearney in May denied a motion to dismiss Uber and FedEx's case against the Simon & Simon firm.

The companies alleged Simon directs clients ​to certain providers whose ​unnecessary treatments or false diagnoses inflate the value of their claims, which could result in a larger settlement. FedEx and ⁠Uber claim that Simon and his firm direct these medical providers to create ​fraudulent documents which are then used as the basis of litigation.

Simon has argued that the companies are abusing RICO in an effort to put him out of business. He brought counterclaims against Uber and FedEx in June, asserting their RICO allegations are "objectively and subjectively baseless" because some cases they agreed to settle were being cited as evidence of a racketeering scheme. Kearney dismissed the counterclaims in August.