Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. was accused of illegally sharing crash victims' personal information with Kanner & Pintaluga for alleged solicitation.

Now, a putative class action filed in the Southern District of Texas targets both the law firm and insurer.

The named plaintiffs, Kelly Cook and Esther Kelley-Cook, alleged that Progressive and Kanner & Pintaluga violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Texas' Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Driver's Privacy Protection Act. This complaint was surfaced on Law.com Radar.

The defendants did not respond to requests for comment by press time, and counsel has yet to appear for them.

According to the suit, Cook's parents were involved in a car crash while using a vehicle owned by Cook and Kelley-Cook. The crash allegedly caused minimal damage to the car, and the other driver was at fault, the complaint claimed.

But Cook allegedly received a call from Kanner & Pintaluga two days after the crash, offering representation and a minimum recovery of $10,000.

Kelley-Cook also allegedly got a solicitation call from the firm, which confirmed that Progressive had disclosed contact information "under an agreement between the two companies," the complaint said.

"Plaintiffs and others in the Classes seek justice for being exploited through [the] defendants’ fraudulent client-solicitation scheme," the suit claimed. "By contacting [the] plaintiffs and thousands of other crash victims without consent, [the] defendants profited illegally from this venture."

The plainitffs claimed that the defendants' alleged actions to conspire to solicit policyholders was barratry, meaning Progressive and Kanner & Pintaluga allegedly pushed for unnecessary litigation for their own gain.

"Defendants must pay $10,000 in statutory penalties to each plaintiff and each person similarly situated," the complaint said. "Moreover, for each person similarly situated who actually retained K&P, [the] defendants must also disgorge any revenue, profits, or any other gains from their fraudulent scheme to those similarly situated people. Defendants are therefore civilly liable for damages and penalties under Texas Government Code Section 82.0651."

The suit brings two proposed classes: an unsolicited-calls class and a Driver's Privacy Protection Act class.

The first proposed class would be made up of any individuals who received unsolicited contact from Kanner & Pintaluga between Nov. 11, 2022, and Monday after an accident was reported to Progressive.

And the second class would include anyone who reprorted a motor vehicle crash to Progressive who then provided the policyholders' information to a third party during the same time period as the first class.

There are allegedly thousands of potential class members.

Jarrett L. Ellzey, Tom Kherkher, Leigh S. Montgomery and Alexander G. Kykta of Ellzey Kherkher Sanford Montgomery are representing the plaintiffs. The attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

The plaintiffs brought six causes of action against the defendnats, including barratry, conspiracy, violations of the DPPA, unjust enrichment, violations of Texas' Deceptive Trade Practices Act and violation of RICO.

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Read the complaint: