LawCash, a litigation funding firm, is suing Lawcash911 for allegedly “palming off” consumers into buying an inferior service.
LawCash makes the claim in a complaint filed against Robert Joseph Hopkins and Funding America LLC, of Purchase, last month in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
Hopkins and his businesses have “profited from this confusion and deceit,” according to the complaint, by misappropriating LawCash trademarks “to funnel customer traffic ”¦ to their websites.”
Hopkins did not reply to an email asking for his side of the story.
LawCash loans money to plaintiffs to give them enough to live on until their lawsuits are settled.
The Brooklyn firm looks for personal injury cases, such as automobile accidents, slip and fall complaints, product liability, police brutality and medical malpractice, where there is a high likelihood of a settlement, president Harvey Hirschfeld said in a 2017 interview with Yieldstreet.
LawCash has been using variations of “lawcash” on its websites and phone number since 2000, and it registered trademarks in 2003 and 2014.
The mark is distinctive, the complaint states, and the firm is nationally recognized as an industry leader in litigation funding.
Hopkins also offers litigation funding services, according to the complaint, using “confusingly similar” names, such as Law Cash 911 and Lawsuit Cash Today.
Hopkins tried to register Law Cash911 as a trademark in 2016.
“Applicant has merely added a space and the number 911 to the registered mark,” a U.S. Trademark and Patent Office examiner ruled in finding that the proposed mark was likely to create confusion with the LawCash mark.
But Hopkins, according to the complaint, has continued to use “lawcash” in business names, website domains and a Twitter account.
LawCash advised Hopkins several times that he was violating trademarks, according to an April 24 cease-and-desist letter, and Hopkins had agreed to shut down the websites or take care of the problem.
“Unfortunately,” the letter continued, “you have surreptitiously renewed your use of LawCash911.”
LawCash accuses Hopkins and his companies of trademark infringement, unfair competition, palming off, misappropriation, unjust enrichment and deceptive business practices.
It is asking the court to order Hopkins to stop using confusingly similar marks, destroy materials that display the marks, turn over profits realized by using the marks, and pay three times the amount of the actual damages from lost sales.
LawCash is represented by Scarsdale attorney Myron Greenspan.
