The View’s Sunny Hostin spoke out against the insurance company suing her husband: ‘Our family was threatened and controlled by strangers, forcing my husband to…

Sunny Hostin is speaking out about a lawsuit against her husband.

According to documents obtained by PEOPLE, Dr. Emmanuel Hostin, who owns an orthopedic and sports medicine clinic in New York, is being sued on claims of fraud by American Transit, an insurance company mainly representing rideshare drivers. Sunny and Emmanuel’s attorney, Mark Geragos, spoke with PEOPLE on Tuesday, Jan. 14, claiming the suit has no grounds.

In a separate statement to PEOPLE, The View co-host, 56, echoed Geragos, claiming: “[American Transit is trying] to avoid paying for medical and surgical procedures for people it insured who were in pain.”

Legal representatives for American Transit have not responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

The lawsuit Sunny is referring to was filed in February 2024 by Uber, alleging that American Transit showed a “pattern and practice of failing to adhere to reasonable claims-handling practices and failing to reasonably resolve claims and lawsuits on its insureds’ behalf.”

Sunny Hostin and Emmanuel Hostin. Joy Malone/Getty

Both Sunny and Geragos alleged that the company — which is suing over 200 defendants — is “on the verge of bankruptcy” and aiming “to poison the well of public opinion because it does not have a valid case” through its lawsuit against her husband.

“[The company] used my celebrity status to start a disgusting media smear campaign against my husband,” Sunny alleged in her statement. “Our family will not be intimidated and harassed. We remain unbowed. We have put American Transit on notice and will file a five-million-dollar counter lawsuit for their defamatory claims, an amount that is likely to increase as the reputational damage that American Transit has intentionally caused is difficult to quantify at this time.”

In her statement, Sunny asked that American Transit “withdraw these false allegations, pay my husband what he is owed and issue a public apology.”

“Insurance companies like American Transit make an already broken healthcare system nearly impossible for Americans to navigate and get good healthcare by engaging in despicable tactics like harassing doctors,” she concluded. “Let me be clear, where I come from, American Transit will receive a PhD from FAFO University.” (FAFO is an abbreviation for “f— around and find out.”)

Sunny Hostin and Emmanuel Hostin. ennett Raglin/Getty

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Per the 698-page complaint from American Transit filed in December, the company claimed that Emmanuel “knowingly provided fraudulent medical and other healthcare services including arthroscopic surgeries to Covered Persons through Hostin Orthopaedics” at “one or more of the Surgicore ASCs.”

It further alleges that Emmanuel committed fraud when he “billed to American Transit through each of those entities in exchange for kickbacks and/or other compensation which were disguised as dividends or other cash distributions.”

In the suit, American Transit cites New York State’s No-Fault (or Personal Injury Protection) law, which is “designed to pay promptly, regardless of who is at fault or whether there was any negligence, for economic losses (meaning medical/health expenses, lost earnings, and certain other reasonable and necessary expenses related to injuries sustained), up to $50,000 per person (‘basic No-Fault coverage’), to the driver and all passengers injured in your car as well as any pedestrians injured by your car, because of its use or operation in New York State.”

They claim Emmanuel took advantage of this law, which is causing insurance fraud to become a “rampant” issue and “endemic to New York State.”