BENTON – Attorney George Ripplinger of Belleville entered a fraud and defamation suit as the third lawyer for defendants whose previous lawyers withdrew on grounds of communication breakdown and failure to pay.
In Ripplinger’s first task on behalf of Tracey Keiser and Robert Frazier of California, he opposed a motion for default judgment worth almost $4 million.
Southern Illinois Motor Express, a trucking company in Cutler, filed the motion after Keiser and Frazier missed a deadline for retaining counsel.
Ripplinger entered on Dec. 23, almost a month past the deadline.
Keiser and Frazier, wife and husband, handled health insurance for the company through entities they called Keiser Group and KG Administrative Services.
Southern Illinois Motor Express sued them and the entities in November 2018, alleging a scheme to defraud the company and its 170 employees.
Giles Howard of St. Louis stated in the complaint that defendants failed to process claims of more than 20 employees in 2016 and 2017.
Howard claimed Southern Illinois Motor Express terminated the defendants and Frazier stated he wouldn’t process pending claims until the company paid runoff fees.
He claimed that when the company asked for the amount of the fees and their contractual basis, Frazier stopped communicating.
He claimed Frazier told employees their claims weren’t paid because Southern Illinois Motor Express hadn’t paid amounts it owed.
“These statements by the employees and representatives of the Keiser defendants are and at all times were false,” Howard wrote.
He wrote that Southern Illinois Motor Express suffered harm to its reputation and concrete injury to its business as a result of those statements.
He wrote that defendants similarly wronged JP Express Service, Rain and Sons Transportation, and Quality Logistics.
He claimed Keiser Group and KG Administrative Services were shell entities that Keiser and Frazier used to avoid individual liability.
Defendants failed to answer, and the court clerk filed entries of default.
Daniel Watkins of Santa Ana, California entered an appearance for defendants in February 2019, and moved to set aside the entries.
He blamed a receptionist “who filed the complaint in an unknown location and failed to give the complaint to anyone at KG Administrative Services.”
Magistrate Judge Gilbert Sison vacated the entries.
Watkins withdrew in July 2019, stating that defendants failed to cooperate and the communication breakdown was beyond repair.
He claimed they didn’t pay in a timely way and a large sum was outstanding.
He claimed they represented ten days earlier that a substantial payment would be made, but it did not occur.
He wrote that he withdrew from actions against them in Oklahoma and California.
He offered to provide details to the court in chambers.
On Aug. 22, 2019, Sison ruled that Keiser and Frazier could represent themselves but their entities needed counsel.
He set a hearing on Sept. 5, but Keiser and Frazier didn’t appear.
Sison ordered them to show cause why he shouldn’t impose sanctions, and he set a Sept. 26 deadline.
On Sept. 25, Vikram Sohal of Encino, California entered an appearance for them.
He filed declarations of apology from them, and Sison vacated his order.
Sohal stayed on the case but didn’t last a year.
He withdrew in August 2020, on grounds of complete and irreparable breakdown of the relationship and failure to pay substantial fees and costs.
He stated he could more fully explain in chambers if the court requested.
On Nov. 4, district judge McGlynn ordered KG Administrative Services and Keiser Group to retain counsel by Nov. 25.
They didn’t, and Southern Illinois Motor Express filed a motion for entry of default against the entities on Nov. 27.
Howard claimed their failure to follow the order was part of a broader pattern of conduct that was prejudicial to plaintiffs and the administration of justice.
The clerk entered default against the entities on Dec. 9.
Southern Illinois Motor Express moved for entry of default against Keiser and Frazier on Dec. 10, and moved to strike their pleadings.
Howard wrote that neither of them had counsel, or advised the court that they would defend themselves, or attended a telephone conference on Dec. 9.
McGlynn ordered the clerk to enter default against Keiser and Frazier on that date, and he struck their pleadings.
Howard moved for final judgment on Dec. 21.
“Under the law, the defaults of these defendants admit their guilt,” he wrote.
He sought $3,139,337.86 for extra expenses and $580,561.77 in unpaid medical claims, for a total of $3,719,899.63.
He wrote that other courts entered judgments in similar cases and that delaying judgment might irrevocably harm the company’s ability to recover debts.
On Dec. 23, four weeks after McGlynn’s deadline for the entities to retain counsel, Ripplinger entered his appearance for all four defendants.
He opposed final judgment on Dec. 27, and filed motions to vacate the default entries and reinstate the pleadings.
He wrote that he and his firm were located in the Southern District and would be able to more easily comply with court orders and demands of the litigation.
On Dec. 28, McGlynn gave Southern Illinois Motor Express 14 days to respond.