Georgia high court to decide lawyers’ alleged criminal solicitation of clients

The Georgia Supreme Court will consider reviving a first-of-its-kind lawsuit aimed at addressing attorneys’ illegal solicitation of clients in what one lawyer says is likely the state’s largest criminal enterprise after the drug trade.

This week, the court agreed to review a case filed by Gainesville personal injury attorney Shane Lazenby against rivals he accuses of illegally soliciting clients in a multimillion-dollar criminal enterprise.

Lawyers for the defendants, who deny the allegations, did not respond to an inquiry about the case.

Lazenby’s lawsuit, seeking damages for all Georgia plaintiff lawyers denied the opportunity to compete fairly for business, was struck down by the Georgia Court of Appeals in November. It could be revived by the state Supreme Court, which will determine whether it was dismissed prematurely before the evidence-sharing phase of litigation.

Lazenby and one of his lawyers in the case, Matt Cook, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the illegal solicitation of clients in Georgia by some personal injury attorneys and their staff is getting worse as prosecutors, legislators and industry regulators seem unable or unwilling to address the widespread issue.

“I believe that we are onto one of the biggest criminal enterprises to be run in the state of Georgia, other than maybe the drug trade, and it’s ironic enough that it’s happening within the legal profession,” Cook, also a Gainesville personal injury attorney, said Wednesday.

Stakeholders agree there has long been a problem in Georgia with so-called “case running” in which people injured in vehicle wrecks and other incidents are aggressively encouraged to hire certain attorneys and law firms.

Soliciting an injured person to be a litigant is illegal in Georgia and a violation of professional conduct rules for lawyers. But the practice has become pervasive because no one wants to do anything about it, according to the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.

Last year, Marietta personal injury attorney Darl Champion resigned as the chairman of the State Bar of Georgia’s committee on attorney-client solicitation, fed up with what he called the organization’s deliberate indifference to the problem.

At the time, Champion told the AJC the state bar’s unwillingness to investigate complaints of improper solicitation, let alone discipline members for it, reminded him of the “steroid era” in professional baseball when players were generally not tested for banned performance-enhancing drugs.

In response, State Bar President Christopher Twyman said he shared the concern about solicitation and took seriously any potential rule violations or harmful conduct.

Lazenby’s case, if allowed to proceed, could open the floodgates for similar lawsuits filed by lawyers against the competitors they allege are the bad actors of the legal industry.

“It’ll be a gamechanger nationwide if we prevail,” Cook said, adding he’s not aware of anyone else who has filed a case like it.

The defendants, including Atlanta personal injury law firm Cambre & Associates and its leading attorneys, sought to dismiss the case at the earliest opportunity. They said in case filings that Lazenby aimed to create a novel legal framework through the courts “wherein personal injury lawyers may sue to cancel other personal injury lawyers and drive them completely out of the legal marketplace.”

The GTLA, representing Georgia’s personal injury lawyers, urged the state Supreme Court to consider reviving Lazenby’s case. It said there needs to be a deterrent against the use of so-called “runners” to gather information about and pressure potential clients into signing up.

“Ultimately, this will help to protect clients from manipulation and abuse and guard the reputation and integrity of the legal profession,” the organization said.

Georgia trial attorneys say case runners use a range of tactics to get hired, including faking affiliations with hospitals and police departments and offering cash and gifts.

In a second case, Lazenby alleged that competition increased to the point where one Atlanta-area personal injury law firm paid its “chief runner,” who was not an attorney, $4.8 million annually to solicit clients. That firm, Guardian Law Group, denied the claim.

The result of that case, pending in Gwinnett County, will be influenced by the state Supreme Court’s decision in Lazenby’s first case.

Improper solicitation of clients by some personal injury lawyers is not a new problem or one that is unique to Georgia, where it has recently come to a head.

It tends to be most prevalent in vehicle wreck situations where information about the people involved quickly passes through many hands, including medical, auto repair, insurance and law enforcement staff.

Ivy Cadle, the state bar’s immediate past president, previously said it is a complex situation that has the attention of some state lawmakers. Cadle said it can be hard for injured people to recognize improper solicitation and for prosecutors and the state bar to dedicate the necessary resources to building “what is basically a big white-collar case.”