Estate of Leah Carpenter v. Weiner & Associates Pllc, 332142

Decedent was in a rear-end car crash, later retained Weiner & Associates under a contingency-fee agreement and was referred to medical providers who performed cervical epidural steroid injections at Endosurgical Center; she became quadriplegic and died months later from complications of a steroid injection.
Plaintiff (Estate of Leah Carpenter) sued multiple parties asserting a conspiracy to generate and bill for unnecessary medical procedures (insurance fraud) and a legal-malpractice claim against the Weiner defendants; separate malpractice claims against the treating physician were resolved by settlement.
Plaintiff’s theory: marketing entity (1-800-US-LAWYER), the Weiner law firm, and Great Lakes medical entities conspired to churn no-fault benefits — law firm would get contingency fee share and medical entities would receive remaining payments.
Defendants moved for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(10); trial court granted the motions, finding insufficient evidence of an unlawful agreement, inducement to undergo unnecessary treatment, or causation linking defendants to decedent’s injury.
On appeal, the Michigan Court of Appeals reviewed de novo and affirmed, holding plaintiff failed to present admissible evidence of a conspiracy, proximate cause, or legal malpractice by the Weiner defendants.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Civil conspiracy / concert of action	Defendants conspired (via marketing, referrals, and shared financial benefit) to induce unnecessary treatments and bill no-fault insurers	Referrals were lawful/business referrals; no evidence defendants knew treatment would be unnecessary or directed medical care	No genuine issue of material fact that defendants entered an unlawful agreement; summary disposition affirmed
Proximate causation of injury	The conspiracy caused decedent to receive unnecessary injections that resulted in quadriplegia and death	The direct cause was the treating physician’s conduct; defendants only referred and did not induce or direct the specific medical care	Plaintiff failed to show admissible evidence that defendants induced acceptance of unnecessary treatment or that conspiracy caused injury; proximate-cause element not met
Legal malpractice / ethics violations and duty to obtain records	Weiner defendants breached duties (conflicts, improper advertising, unauthorized practice) and negligently failed to obtain medical records/IME	MRPC violations do not create a private cause of action; attorneys are not medical experts and had no duty to second-guess medical judgment or perform negligent medical referral	MRPC violations cannot form malpractice claim; no recognized cause for negligent professional referral by attorneys; summary disposition for Weiner defendants affirmed

Cuddington v. United Health Servs., Inc., 298 Mich. App. 264 (2012) (summary disposition review standard under MCR 2.116(C)(10))
Debano–Griffin v. Lake County, 493 Mich. 167 (2013) (definition of a genuine issue of material fact)
Urbain v. Beierling, 301 Mich. App. 114 (2013) (elements of civil conspiracy and concert-of-action claims)
Abel v. Eli Lilly & Co., 418 Mich. 311 (1984) (concert-of-action requires all defendants acted tortiously pursuant to a common design)
Holliday v. McKeiver, 156 Mich. App. 214 (1986) (legal fiction of concert liability where common design proved)
Cousineau v. Ford Motor Co., 140 Mich. App. 19 (1985) (agreement or tacit understanding required for conspiracy)
Kloian v. Schwartz, 272 Mich. App. 232 (2006) (elements of legal-malpractice claim)
O’Neal v. St. John Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 487 Mich. 485 (2010) (proximate-cause standard)