'The View' host Sunny Hostin's surgeon husband facing years-long legal battle in fraud case

The hubby of "The View" big Sunny Hostin, on with 200 co-defendants accused of security fraud successful a sweeping, $459 cardinal New York lawsuit, could find himself tied up successful tribunal for years to come, according to ineligible experts.

Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Hostin, an orthopedic surgeon, is among dozens of doctors and aesculapian unit named successful the national lawsuit, which was filed past period by American Transit Insurance Co., a New York-based commercialized car security supplier that insures Uber, Lyft, and taxi companies successful the state. Hostin successful peculiar is accused of receiving kickbacks by "performing country and fraudulently billing" American Transit, according to the lawsuit.

It cites astatine slightest 2 of Hostin's patients who were allegedly treated successful January 2023 pursuing engagement successful "low-impact" collisions that caused lone minimal damage. Despite experiencing "no much than soft-tissue injuries," some received arthroscopic surgery, the suit said.

The suit was filed nether the national Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, oregon RICO, successful the Eastern District of New York— a strategy that ineligible experts told Fox News Digital is designed to person a chilling effect connected behavior. It's besides 1 that risks entangling defendants specified arsenic Hostin successful years of analyzable tribunal proceedings— and perchance saddling them with monolithic payouts arsenic a result. 

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"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin. (Screenshot/ABC)

That's due to the fact that RICO laws— passed successful the 1970s arsenic an effort to ace down connected mafia enactment and different organized crime— let plaintiffs to triumph "treble damages," awards that are triple the magnitude of actual, oregon compensatory damages. 

In the American Transit case, that's determination successful the ballpark of $459 cardinal oregon more— 3 times arsenic precocious arsenic their compensatory damages, which basal astatine $153 million.

Intimidation factor, chilling effect 

Often, these types of lawsuits are pursued with a definite strategy successful mind, said Michael Mears, an subordinate instrumentality prof astatine the John Marshall Law School who specializes successful transgression instrumentality and RICO cases. 

"There's a batch much going connected with the usage of the RICO statute than conscionable recovering damages," Mears told Fox News Digital successful an interview. "It's changing behaviors. It's changing attitudes. It's changing the mode concern is done sometimes."

RICO civilian lawsuits are sometimes utilized arsenic a means to unit radical oregon halt definite behaviors and oppressive practices.  In the lawsuit involving Hostin, that includes allegedly habitual over-billing by doctors and ambulatory services, oregon the overcharging of patients to an bonzer degree. 

In the New York case, for example, "you've got doctors who truly don't privation to beryllium called criminals," Mears said. "Just the accusations unsocial [in] a civilian RICO statute tin beryllium precise intimidating, and beryllium a precise almighty tool" to halt objectionable practices. 

That's not to accidental determination won't beryllium a litany of courtroom enactment up for defendants named successful the American Transit lawsuit, including Hostin. 

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Sunny Hostin speaks connected aerial successful a conception connected ‘The VIew.' (Screenshot/ABC)

Legal experts told Fox News Digital that civilian RICO cases successful today's satellite are a agelong game— often carrying a timeline of years, alternatively than months, to play retired successful court.

Plaintiffs successful civilian RICO cases are often security companies who are accusing a radical of radical of fraud, Jeffrey Grell, an lawyer specializing successful RICO litigation, told Fox News Digital successful an interview. 

In the American Transit lawsuit, the security supplier accuses Hostin and the dozens of different aesculapian practitioners of abusing New York's no-fault instrumentality to artificially inflate oregon measure for unnecessary aesculapian treatments and nett from the kickbacks.  

No-fault laws necessitate companies similar American Transit to screen wellness attraction expenses "reasonably incurred" arsenic a effect of injuries suffered by insured occupants. But the debased load of impervious nether no-fault laws besides means that they are particularly susceptible to exploitation by aesculapian practitioners. 

American Transit alleges that Hostin and different defendants abused New York’s no-fault laws to measure "hundreds of millions" of dollars successful fraudulent payments betwixt 2009 and December 2024. 

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"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin.  (92Y via YouTube)

Complex cases, lengthy timelines  

Civil RICO cases are often lengthy, arduous cases for each of the individuals involved.

In fact, the 698-page suit filed by American Transit is among the largest RICO civilian cases ever filed successful New York— each but ensuring a drawn-out solution process for Hostin and different defendants. 

Courts "are going to look astatine the idiosyncratic claims made against each suspect to found each the elements of a RICO claim, and each the elements of RICO claims are beauteous complicated," Grell said.

Many of the defendants— if not all— volition effort to determination to disregard the lawsuit earlier find begins, a preliminary process that unsocial tin instrumentality much than a year. Often, determination volition beryllium a flurry of related motions filed by defendants successful attempting to person their question to disregard granted by the court, further adding to the drawn-out clip frame. 

After the motions to disregard are resolved, the find process begins. This process tin beryllium lengthy and complex, arsenic it involves each idiosyncratic named successful the suit, and the counsel for each suspect volition effort to marque the lawsuit that their lawsuit individually does not fulfill the elements of the RICO case.

"Like successful immoderate different civilian lawsuit, the RICO statute allows radical to instrumentality depositions," Mears said of the clip framework for RICO cases. "They let the postulation of documents. They let the find of filling records." 

Ultimately, it's a process that "opens up a full avenue to find retired what's going connected wrong the organization— whether it's a doctor's office, a hospital, a doctor's group," helium said, and which allows plaintiffs to bid find and papers postulation from each idiosyncratic named. 

That tin effect successful the lawsuit dragging connected for adjacent longer.

"In different words, the find process [in RICO cases] tin beryllium precise intimidating," Mears said. "It's a agelong game."

Sunny Hostin, for her part, has weighed successful connected her husband's enactment arsenic a doc successful her relation co-hosting "The View."

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Most recently, Hostin referred to his enactment successful a treatment implicit wellness security successful the aftermath of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson successful New York City.

"Doctors endure due to the fact that of large corporations arsenic well, doctors that privation to bash bully similar my husband," Hostin said successful the segment. She added that her husband, successful his capableness arsenic an orthopedic surgeon, "operates connected idiosyncratic adjacent though they don't person security and past has to writer wellness security companies to get paid for the enactment that he's been trained his full beingness to do."

Hostin's lawyers antecedently denied each allegations against him and described the filing a "blanket, scattershot, meritless suit by a near-bankrupt security carrier," according to the Daily Mail.

They did not respond to Fox News Digital's petition for remark connected the allegations oregon immoderate timeline anticipated successful the RICO proceedings.