ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis couple is being sued by the U-Haul Company for staging an accident in order to claim insurance money.
According to the lawsuit, Khadijah Bounds and Erion Johnson allegedly staged the accident and claimed they did not know each other despite later acknowledging they were in a relationship.
The lawsuit states Bounds was allegedly driving the rented U-Haul truck to move equipment on Sept. 19, 2024, in the city’s West End neighborhood on a one-way street.
Bound told police she did not see Johnson in a 2008 Ford F-150 while he was attempting to parallel park on Bartmer Avenue and Hamilton Avenue.
Bounds allegedly struck Johnson’s truck, and both denied medical attention after the crash. Johnson also refused medical attention for the passenger in his Ford, who he said was his brother.
Police saw damage to the driver’s side of the U-Haul truck and damage to the front passenger side of the Ford.
A few days later, Johnson told U-Haul he had back pain from the injury and wanted to pursue an injury claim and also stated his Ford could no longer start.
He told U-Haul he would only pursue treatment if it was covered. He also stated his daughter was in a car seat at the time of the crash, which contradicted his statement to police that his brother was in the passenger seat.
Bounds told U-Haul later that it was her “belief” that Johnson was parking in the middle of the road while she was allegedly driving 25 to 30 miles per hour. Bounds again told U-Haul she did not know Johnson at the time of the crash.
Bounds also told U-Haul she dropped her phone in the river shortly after the accident and lost all photos she took of the accident.
After U-Haul investigated the crash, they discovered Bounds was actually going under 5 miles per hour. Bounds also admitted during the investigation that Johnson was her boyfriend.
The lawsuit said despite Bounds and Johnson previously stating they did not know each other, investigators found they had previously lived together and had tagged each other in posts on social media, including TikTok.
One of the posts Bounds wrote about Johnson said, “I want to say Happy 35th Birthday to My Man My Man My Man. Puerto Rico owes us not nothing.”
According to the lawsuit, Johnson has an extensive claim history, including previous claims of faked damage and exaggerated injury.
Bounds is being sued for seven counts of breaching her rental contract with U-Haul, one count for unclean hands, and “egregious” misconduct. Both Bounds and Johnson are being sued for one count of fraud.
