A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit and sanctioned the attorney representing a truck driver who fabricated a company in a bid to access insurance proceeds from a trucking accident. The court found that the lawsuit was brought in bad faith and for an improper purpose.
The case, Independent Contractors of Maverick Transportation, LLC v. Great West Casualty Company, centered on a 2023 crash involving Dorian West, a truck driver and independent contractor for Maverick Transportation, LLC. At the time, West was leasing a Freightliner tractor-trailer from Maverick Leasing, LLC, and was required under his lease agreement to insure the vehicle.
Maverick arranged for coverage through Great West Casualty Company, or GWCC. After the accident, West filed a claim and received more than $120,000 in total payouts under policy No. ICP00136S.
Nearly a year later, West’s attorney, Daniel Finney III, took the unusual step of creating a new Missouri company—Independent Contractors of Maverick Transportation, LLC—and registering a fictitious name, Maverick Transportation LLC Ind Cont. Two days later, Finney filed a lawsuit claiming this newly formed entity was the first named insured on the policy and entitled to broad access to policy files, claims records, and premium refunds.
The plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment stating that both West and the LLC were insured parties and that the GWCC policy should be voided ab initio.
GWCC responded with counterclaims for abuse of process and declaratory relief. The company argued that the new LLC had no connection to the policy and was formed solely to manufacture legal standing in a dispute that had already been resolved.
The GWCC policy at the center of the dispute covered only vehicles leased by independent contractors to Maverick Transportation under long-term lease agreements, and for which premiums had been paid. The insured group was broadly identified as “Independent Contractors of Maverick Transportation LLC.”
The court found that West’s vehicle met the criteria at the time of the crash—and that GWCC had fulfilled its obligations by paying out the claim.
But the court also found that the newly created LLC did not exist during the policy period and had no legal relationship with either Maverick or GWCC.
In a scathing opinion, U.S. District Judge Henry Edward Autrey dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice and sanctioned Finney under Rule 11, 28 U.S.C. § 1927, and the court’s inherent powers.
Finney, the court noted, “fabricated” the LLC to pursue baseless claims, issued multimillion-dollar demands via email—including a $65 million “global release”—and repeatedly threatened GWCC and its attorneys with criminal charges.
“Mr. Finney’s conduct in this case has been hostile and harassing and does not serve to advance this case,” the court wrote, citing repeated violations of legal standards and failure to comply with show cause orders. A hearing will be held to determine the scope of financial penalties.
While GWCC’s request for a permanent injunction against future lawsuits was denied, the court granted its request for a declaratory judgment, ruling that the LLC has no rights under the policy and that GWCC has fully satisfied its obligations to West.
Finney did not provide a substantive defense to the sanctions motion and instead continued to demand the dismissal of GWCC’s counterclaims as a precondition for cooperation.
The ruling serves as a stern warning to litigants and attorneys seeking to manipulate entity structures to gain leverage in insurance disputes.
