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NYC sues personal injury law firm accused of bogus trip-and-fall claims
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Oct 19, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. ET
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Oct 19, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. ET
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A Queens man sought $1 million in a 2020 lawsuit claiming he tripped on an uneven metal plate on a Bed-Stuy sidewalk and busted his hand, shoulder and lower lip.
But city attorneys say the real cause of his injuries was a fight on Thanksgiving.
The alleged fraud perpetrated by Dwight Marshall, 57, was one of 15 lawsuits filed over the last decade by the Lower Manhattan personal injury law firm, Asher & Associates. Now, the city’s law department is pushing back. City lawyers filed a landmark federal lawsuit earlier this month claiming Asher routinely files bogus slip-and-fall cases as part of a concerted effort to cheat taxpayers out of millions of dollars.
Each of the 15 allegedly fraudulent suits sought damages for accidents people claimed were caused by cracked sidewalks, potholes and other defects. The city’s lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, alleges that medical records reveal all the plaintiffs actually suffered their injuries through other incidents that had nothing to do with city property.
Matthew Laroche, a lawyer representing Asher & Associates, called the city’s claims baseless.
“For over 40 years, Asher & Associates, P.C. and its attorneys have been tremendously successful in representing injured New Yorkers and in holding wrongdoing parties accountable to the rule of law,” defense attorney Matthew Laroche said in a statement. “This lawsuit is a clear attempt to chill that work by recasting ordinary, contested personal injury litigation as racketeering, and by grossly mischaracterizing the facts.”
New York City is filled with law practices that have turned personal injury lawsuits into a cottage industry. The firms, which buy massive amounts of advertising space on highway billboards and subway posters, are often referred to as “ambulance chasers.”
The city pays billions of dollars a year in claims. Data from the city comptroller’s office shows City Hall spent more than $2 billion on settlements and judgements in the last fiscal year, and about $1.9 billion the year before.
Public officials argue that rooting out fraudulent claims could save the city money. Earlier this year Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed through changes to the state’s auto insurance regulations in hopes of cracking down on staged car accidents and bringing down insurance premiums.
The new civil lawsuit accuses Asher & Associates of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — better known to "Sopranos" fans as RICO, a law passed in 1970 to crack down on organized crime. The case marks the first time the city has attempted to use the federal racketeering statutes to combat staged accidents and personal injuries, according to a law department spokesperson.
City attorneys say they hope the suit serves as a warning to other law firms that file phony or frivolous claims.
“Personal injury laws exist to protect actual victims of trauma, not to line the pockets of people looking to make a quick buck off City taxpayers,” Corporation Counsel Steven Banks said in a statement.
In Marshall’s case, Kings County Medical Center records show he told doctors his injuries weren’t caused by a fall — they were caused by someone wielding a lead pipe on Thanksgiving Day in 2018.
Marshall could not be reached for comment.
Advocates and legal experts are closely watching the case for its potential impact on the personal injury industry. “ This is a landmark case that really exposes the level of fraud that's been happening in our court system for quite some time,” said Tom Stebbins, head of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York.
The suit alleges that Asher & Associates employed runners to find people with “legally weak” or “non-compensable injuries,” sometimes in emergency rooms. They would then connect them to attorneys who would file false narratives against the city, lawyers wrote, like tripping on uneven sidewalks or hitting a pothole on an e-bike or scooter.
“In moving from emergency room to courtroom the Asher Defendants’ clients’ narratives undergo a remarkable metamorphosis,” the lawsuit states. “A punch in the jaw, a blow from a lead pipe, an opened car door, or an encounter with a hit-and-run driver is transformed into that ‘defective, cracked, misleveled, broken, warped, elevated, depressed, or uneven’ roadway owned or controlled by the city.”
Experts who study federal racketeering law said the city is pursuing a creative but reasonable use of the statute.
“ It's the first time I've seen a municipality use RICO in this way,” said Jeff Grell, an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University and author of the book “Grell on RICO: A Practical Guide to the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.” He said the city will have to clear procedural hurdles in moving the claims from state to federal court.
“ There's no such thing as an easy RICO claim,” he said. “They're all very complicated.”
Columbia Law Professor Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York who tried criminal RICO cases, said the lawsuit had merit.
“The framework of RICO really does lend itself to pursuing a broad pattern of misconduct,” he said. “As long as the facts support it.”
Tagged
new york city
public safety
Walter Wuthmann
Walter Wuthmann is a reporter covering public safety and the legal system.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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