You’ve probably heard some version of the story. A big Texas law firm sweeps into Louisiana after a string of nasty hurricanes, promising to squeeze every last dime out of insurance companies for desperate homeowners. It sounds like the plot of a legal thriller, but for thousands of people in the Gulf South, McClenny Moseley & Associates (MMA) turned into a living nightmare.
Honestly, the sheer scale of what went down is hard to wrap your head around. We aren't just talking about a few missed deadlines or a pushy TV ad. This was a systematic, tech-fueled "litigation factory" that eventually collapsed under the weight of federal investigations and millions of dollars in fines.
The $13 Million Marketing Machine
How does a firm suddenly have 15,000 clients?
They didn't get them through word of mouth. MMA basically treated law like a volume-based commodity. They reportedly paid a marketing firm called Velawcity nearly $14 million to "harvest" leads. If you lived in Louisiana in 2021 or 2022 and got a random, sketchy text message asking if you had hurricane damage, you might have been looking at the front end of the MMA funnel.
But it got weirder.
The firm teamed up with Apex Roofing & Restoration. The deal was pretty simple: Apex would get homeowners to sign "assignment of benefits" or "direction to pay" forms. MMA would then take those forms and tell insurance companies they represented the homeowner.
Here’s the kicker: hundreds of those homeowners had no idea who McClenny Moseley & Associates even was. They thought they were just getting a new roof.
The "Tableau of Misconduct"
Judges don't usually use flowery language like "tableau of misconduct" unless they are absolutely livid. U.S. District Judge James Cain Jr. and Magistrate Judge Michael North were beyond livid.
In one legendary stretch in August 2022, MMA filed over 1,600 lawsuits in just four days.
Why the rush? The statute of limitations for Hurricane Laura claims was about to expire. They were literally dumping files into the court system to "preserve" them, often without even checking if they had the right insurance company or if the "client" actually wanted to sue.
When the courts started looking under the hood, they found a mess:
- Lawsuits filed for people who had already settled their claims.
- Lawsuits filed against the wrong insurance providers.
- Settlement checks—totaling over $20 million—just sitting in the firm's office, uncashed, while homeowners struggled to fix their houses.
- Forged signatures on settlement documents.
Bankruptcy and the FBI
By 2024, the house of cards didn't just wobble; it imploded. MMA filed for bankruptcy in Texas, claiming about $155 million in assets but also facing $106 million in debt. Much of that debt was owed to hedge funds like B.E. Blank & Co., which had loaned the firm $30 million to fund its "litigation harvesting" operation.
The legal community calls this barratry—the illegal solicitation of clients.
The consequences were swift and brutal. The Louisiana Department of Insurance slapped the firm and its partners with a record $2 million fine. That is the largest fine ever issued by the department.
William Huye III, the firm's New Orleans managing partner, was disbarred in Louisiana. Zach Moseley faced suspensions. Even the FBI’s New Orleans Division got involved, setting up a dedicated portal for victims of the firm to come forward.
What Most People Get Wrong
A lot of folks think this was just "lawyers being lawyers." It wasn't.
Most personal injury or property damage firms work on a one-to-one basis. MMA was a different beast. They were backed by private equity and utilized "case runners" (the marketing firms and contractors) to generate volume. It was a business model designed to force quick settlements from insurers who would rather pay $10,000 to go away than fight a thousand individual lawsuits.
The problem is, when you treat people like line items in a spreadsheet, you forget that those people are living in houses with blue tarps on the roofs.
What if You Were an MMA Client?
If you were one of the thousands caught in this web, you were likely stuck in "legal purgatory" for a long time. Your insurance company wouldn't talk to you because MMA had filed a "letter of representation," but MMA wouldn't answer your calls because they were too busy filing the next thousand cases.
Fortunately, the Louisiana Supreme Court stepped in. They appointed a special trustee to oversee the transfer of files to new, ethical attorneys.
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Next Steps for Recovery:
If you still have an unresolved claim that was handled by McClenny Moseley & Associates, you need to be proactive.
- Verify your status: Check the Western or Eastern District of Louisiana court records to see if a stay is still in place on your case.
- Contact the Trustee: The court-appointed trustee was tasked with ensuring files move to new counsel. If you haven't heard from anyone, reach out to the Louisiana State Bar Association.
- Submit an FBI Victim Form: If you believe your settlement money was mishandled or your signature was forged, the FBI’s New Orleans office still has its intake form live for the MMA investigation.
- Hire Local: The biggest lesson here? Be wary of "national" firms that use aggressive text marketing. If you can't walk into your lawyer's office and look them in the eye, they might just be a "litigation mill" in disguise.
The MMA saga is basically a cautionary tale for the digital age. It shows that while technology can make legal work more efficient, it also makes it way too easy for greed to scale. In 2026, the fallout continues as federal prosecutors and bankruptcy courts pick through the remains of what was once the most prolific storm-litigation firm in the country.