Secret Recordings and Lies: Lawsuits Paint Wild Picture of Steinger, Iscoe & Greene
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Steinger, Iscoe & Greene, one of the largest personal injury firms in Florida, is being sued by former employees for allegedly instituting a quota system and pressuring clients to receive surgery.
The firm, meanwhile, has fired off its own suit, this one against a private detective accused of covertly installing surveillance equipment in Steinger Iscoe offices.
The parties trade allegations of unethical behavior.
Among the litigants are two former attorneys who filed complaints against the law firm in Palm Beach Circuit Court. Their November 2018 lawsuits accuse the firm of instituting policies requiring attorneys to harass clients to "obtain surgical interventions for their injuries whenever possible." The lawsuit calls the arrangement "no surgery, no case."
The filings also allege partner Michael Steinger created a system requiring each attorney to bill at least $250,000 each quarter.
Plaintiffs Lee Levenson and Robert Gonzalez allege they were fired from Steinger Iscoe on Oct. 16 after expressing reservations about the firm's quota system and the conduct of its presuit division. Described in the suit as "a group of paralegals and non-lawyers who handled a client's claim prior to litigation," that group allegedly shared fees and paid "runners" a finder's fee for bringing clients to the firm.
According to Gonzalez and Levenson's suits, their termination violated their employment agreements, and their lawsuits seek injunctive and declaratory relief.
Meanwhile, Steinger Iscoe is suing private detective Michael Coronel for allegedly placing recording devices within the walls of its West Palm Beach office, without the firm's permission. Coronel had worked for Levenson, and surveillance cameras caught him entering the firm during off-hours, according to court filings and the Palm Beach Post, which broke the news.
Steinger Iscoe, which has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuits, did not respond to requests for comment by press time. Gonzalez and Levenson's legal counsel, Justus Reid and Bernard Lebedeker, also did not reply by deadline.
Read Steinger, Iscoe & Greene's invasion of privacy suit:
