Attorney General Dustin McDaniel today filed a deceptive trade practices suit against several people and related companies for tactics in soliciting accident victims in behalf of chiropractors in return for a share of insurance proceeds.
The lawsuit, naming Roger D. Pleasant of Maumelle, Defendants Information and Discovery, Inc., PSG and Investigation, Accident Claim Service, Physician 1st Marketing Group, Network Collision Group, Rogerick Pleasant of Maumelle (Roger Pleasant’s son), Jimmy Hinton and Bryan Hinton (both of whom are said to work for the Pleasants), says:
Defendants solicit auto accident victims by phone and in-person on behalf of local chiropractors, often using false identities and falsely claiming to represent an insurance company, with the assurance of helping the accident victim get an insurance settlement and medical benefits in exchange for a share of the insurance claim paid to the chiropractor who treats the accident victim.
This activity harasses and deceives auto accident victims, sometimes leads to unnecessary chiropractic treatment that makes consumers subject to medical liens filed by chiropractors, and endangers the health of accident victims by steering accident victims to chiropractors rather than medical doctors regardless of the
accident victim’s clinical needs.
McDaniel seeks an injunction and civil penalties in the deceptive trade practices suit. It doesn’t name chiropractors but the suit includes details on how many visits to a chiropractor were required before some money would flow back to the so-called “runners.”
Said a McDaniel news release:
Roger Pleasant and his employees are known as chiropractic “runners.” They collect consumer information from accident reports, and then solicit business on behalf of the chiropractors who pay them if the consumer seeks treatment from the chiropractor.
Pleasant and his employees are accused of lying to consumers, repeatedly calling the consumers on the phone and showing up at consumers’ home or workplace in efforts to coerce consumers into visiting the chiropractor for whom they were working.