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The workers sued Illinois-based Cassens Transport Co., insurance claims adjuster Crawford & Co., and Warren physician Dr.
Saul Margules, alleging mail fraud, wire fraud and violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
(RICO) Act. It is alleged that the defendants conspired to falsely deny Workers' Compensation claims.
"They further pleaded that Cassens, Crawford, and Dr. Margules, as well as other 'medical whore' doctors, engaged in a
pattern of racketeering activity that denied the plaintiff's Workers' Compensation claims," the court wrote. "Specifically,
the plaintiffs alleged that Cassens and Crawford deliberately selected and paid unqualified doctors, including Margules,
to give false medical opinions that would support the denial of Workers' Compensation benefits, and that defendants
ignored other reasonable medical evidence in denying them benefits."
Sound familiar?
It is also alleged that the defendants communicated amongst themselves by mail and wire, bringing them under the umbrella
of the federal RICO statutes.
Thursday's ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals does not mean the workers have won their case. It just means
the lawsuit can move forward and proceed into the discovery phase of the trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
In the conclusion of its 13-page opinion, the appeals court said that it reversed "the dismissal of plaintiffs' RICO
claims because their RICO claims are not preempted by state law and because plaintiffs have adequately pleaded a pattern
of racketeering activity despite the lack of reliance on the defendants' fraudulent acts and remand to the district
court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion."
U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman dismissed the lawsuit in 2005 and, in a split decision, the 6th Circuit upheld Borman's
ruling in 2007. But the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to the 6th Circuit earlier this year in light of a ruling
the Supreme Court made in a case involving similar legal issues in the area of alleged fraud.
Marshall Lasser, the Southfield attorney representing current or former Cassens employees Paul Brown, William Fanaly and
Charles Thomas, said he was stunned and pleased by Thursday's ruling.
"I've been fighting this battle for many, many years," Lasser said. "There are a lot of people who I believe are
suffering because of unlawful denial of Workers' Comp claims, for which there is no relief under Michigan law."
Janet Lanyon, the Troy attorney who argued the case for the defendants, could not immediately be reached for comment.
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A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated a lawsuit and cleared the way for discovery to begin in an action brought
by workers at a trucking company who claimed they were fraudulently denied their Workers' Compensation benefits.