More News From Corpus Christi
Todd Hoeffner, the Texas plaintiffs’ lawyer who was indicted last June by a federal grand jury in Houston for paying over $3 million in kickbacks to two Hartford claims handlers to orchestrate $34 million in silicosis settlements, has filed a cross-claim against Harford in the malpractice suit that his former clients have since brought against him, claiming that he was a victim of extortion. In papers filed in the U.S. District Court in Corpus Christi last week, Hoeffner seeks $3 million in damages from Hartford that he is seeking to treble pursuant to a RICO claim, contending that Rachel Rossow and John Prestage threatened to scuttle legitimate settlements unless he agreed to pay them bribes. Hoeffner claims that “employees of The Hartford held hostage the legal rights of Hoeffner and his clients in a plan calculated to enrich themselves.”
