Insurer, Contractors Allege Fake Construction Accidents
Whenever there are insurance or government payments or benefits involved, there are bound to be misinformation, lies, and scams. This is common with workers’ compensation. Many employees claim to be injured at work in order to get paid time off work.
A huge fraud scheme of this nature happened in New York. A construction industry insurer and three construction contractors have filed a lawsuit against multiple defendants alleging a massive scheme involving staged workplace accidents and bogus workers’ compensation and personal injury lawsuits.
The lawsuit was filed by insurer Ionian RE in federal district court. It claims that the scheme involved fake unwitnessed falls on construction sites and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in workers’ compensation payments.
The lawsuit targets law firms such as Subin & Associates, LLC; William Schwitzer & Associates, P.C; and Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP, along with 12 of their clients. It accuses them of operating under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The suit also claims the scheme was designed to take advantage of New York’s Labor Law 240 (1), also known as the Scaffold Law. According to this law, construction companies and property owners in New York are 100% financially liable if a worker falls from any height and is injured on their jobsite.
The scheme has allegedly been going on since at least 2017. The law firms orchestrated the scheme by recruiting construction workers into staging fake construction accidents. They also took care of the documentation, filing, and prosecution of the fraudulent workers’ compensation claims. The law firms also worked with healthcare providers to provide medically unnecessary and excessive healthcare services to the construction workers. They also used fraudulent diagnoses and medically unnecessary and excessive healthcare services to inflate the value of these claims.
The lawsuit describes in detail 12 construction work accidents cases where workers allegedly accidentally fell from heights or down stairs and suffered injuries that were covered by contractors DNA Contracting & Waterproofing, Skyline Restoration Inc., and Urban D.C. Inc.
The staged accidents all occurred without witnesses and were carried out by the 12 individual defendants shortly after they started working for one of the contractors. Many of the claimants were related by family or had some sort of personal ties.
For most of the claimants, both general liability lawsuits and workers’ compensation claims were initiated together to maximize profit for the schemers. The injury claims were inflated through exaggerated medical procedures and false diagnoses by medical providers who agreed to engage in the scheme.
The Scaffold Law in New York is the only one of its kind. It has been criticized by the construction industry and insurers for increasing the costs of construction projects.
Contact Us for More Information About Workers’ Compensation Benefits
Workers’ compensation benefits are available to those who are truly injured. Staging fake accidents is not only immoral but also illegal.
Fake workplace accidents make it harder for those who are truly injured at work to get the benefits they need. Get the help you need from a White Plains workers’ compensation lawyer from The Law Office of Michael Lawrence Varon. Schedule a consultation today by filling out the online form or calling (914) 228-1770.
Source:
insurancejournal.com/news/east/2024/11/19/801689.htm
