Insurance Fraud Based on a Claimed Serbo-Croation War
Read the full article at, see the full video at https://rumble.com/vtyw1s-true-crime-stories-of-insurance-fraud-number-12.html and at and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4050 posts.
Posted on February 4, 2022 by Barry Zalma
See the full video at https://rumble.com/vtyw1s-true-crime-stories-of-insurance-fraud-number-12.html and at
Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE presents videos so you can learn how insurance fraud is perpetrated and what is necessary to deter or defeat insurance fraud. This Video Blog of True Crime Stories of Insurance Fraud with the names and places changed to protect the guilty are all based upon investigations conducted by me and fictionalized to create a learning environment for claims personnel, SIU investigators, insurers, police, and lawyers better understand insurance fraud and weapons that can be used to deter or defeat a fraudulent insurance claim.
Arson for Profit During the L.A. Olympics
In 1983, just before the Olympics came to Los Angeles, the doctor decided he needed additional money to buy the lot next door to his Westwood, California duplex. It was his dream to tear down the duplex and build million dollar condominiums on the two lots. Before he could do so, however, he had to remove his tenants from the duplex. He also needed a substantial amount of cash as seed money for his intended development. His plan was to have a fire destroy the duplex and to use the money he expected to receive from his fire insurer to start construction of the condominiums.
He called his insurance agent who came to the duplex where the doctor lived with his girlfriend and her young son. He told his agent he had learned about the increase in construction costs. He told the agent he decided to double the limits of liability on his fire insurance policy. The agent, whose only concern was collecting additional commissions, put through the request for the increase with pleasure since doing so doubled his commission.
The doctor, explained to his insurance agent that since he had escaped communist Yugoslavia ten years before he did not understand American insurance.
When the doctor treated his Croatian patients he told them he was Croatian. When he treated Serbian patients he told them he was Serbian. His practice flourished in the Yugoslavian community.
He continued to proclaim his total innocence even after admitting there was evidence to support his plea of guilty to insurance fraud. The judge sentenced him to ninety days in the county jail and ordered him to make restitution. The doctor paid the attorneys fees his insurer incurred in defending the bad faith lawsuit he brought for failure to pay his claim that was dismissed because of the insurance fraud conviction.
© 2022 – Barry Zalma
Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost equally for insurers and policyholders.
He practiced law in California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims handling lawyer and more than 54 years in the insurance business.
Subscribe to “Zalma on Insurance” at https://zalmaoninsurance.locals.com/subscribe and “Excellence in Claims Handling” at https://barryzalma.substack.com/welcome.
You can contact Mr. Zalma at https://www.zalma.com, https://www.claimschool.com, [email protected] and [email protected] . Mr. Zalma is the first recipient of the first annual Claims Magazine/ACE Legend Award.
You may find interesting the podcast “Zalma On Insurance” at https://anchor.fm/barry-zalma; you can follow Mr. Zalma on Twitter at; you should see Barry Zalma’s videos on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg/featured; or videos on https://rumble.com/zalma. Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims–library/ The last two issues of ZIFL are available at https://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/
Louisiana Statute Prevents Enforcement of Contract Term Requiring Arbitration of Disputes
Post 5241
Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/international-convention-requiring-enforcement-award-barry-sttdc, see the video at and at and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.
In Town of Vinton v. Indian Harbor Insurance Company, Nos. 24-30035, 24-30748, 24-30749, 24-30750, 24-30751, 24-30756, 24-30757, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (December 8, 2025) municipal entities including the Town of Vinton, et al sued domestic insurers after dismissing foreign insurers with prejudice. The insurers sought arbitration under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “Convention”) but the court held Louisiana law — prohibiting arbitration clauses in such policies—controls, as the Convention does not apply absent foreign parties who ...
Refusal to Provide Workers’ Compensation is Expensive
Post 5240
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/guC9dnqA, see the video at https://lnkd.in/gVxz-qmk and at https://lnkd.in/gUTAnCZw, and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.
In Illinois Department of Insurance, Insurance Compliance Department v.USA Water And Fire Restoration, Inc., And Nicholas Pacella, Individually And As Officer, Nos. 23WC021808, 18INC00228, No. 25IWCC0467, the Illinois Department of Insurance (Petitioner) initiated an investigation after the Injured Workers’ Benefit Fund (IWBF) was added to a pending workers’ compensation claim. The claim alleged a work-related injury during employment with the Respondents who failed to maintain workers’ compensation Insurance.
Company Overview:
USA Water & Fire Restoration, Inc. was incorporated on January 17, 2014, and dissolved on June 14, 2019, for failure to file annual reports and pay franchise taxes. It then operated under assumed names including USA Board Up & Glass Co. and USA Plumbing and Sewer. The business ...
Arsonist Incompetently Moves Pro Se to Avoid Prison
Post 5239
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gRX8TfKn, see the video at https://lnkd.in/gY3Jvnqp and at https://lnkd.in/gRCaaf-3, and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.
In Christopher A. Barosh v. Morris Houser, et al., Civ. No. 22-0769, United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania (November 25, 2025) a convicted arsonist and insurance fraudster moved the USDC acting in Pro se filed Objections to Magistrate Judge Reid’s Recommendation that the US District Judge dismiss his § 2254 Petition to avoid jail.
BACKGROUND
In October 2005, Barosh set fire to his girlfriend’s Philadelphia home — some 25 hours before the cancellation of the property’s insurance policy. Several witnesses saw Barosh leaving the property shortly before the fire erupted. After the fire, Barosh made “two separate admissions of guilt.”
He attempted to pay an acquaintance to provide him with an alibi for the time of the arson. The eyewitnesses, brother, and ...
The Professional Claims Handler
Post 5219
Posted on October 31, 2025 by Barry Zalma
An Insurance claims professionals should be a person who:
Can read and understand the insurance policies issued by the insurer.
Understands the promises made by the policy.
Understand their obligation, as an insurer’s claims staff, to fulfill the promises made.
Are competent investigators.
Have empathy and recognize the difference between empathy and sympathy.
Understand medicine relating to traumatic injuries and are sufficiently versed in tort law to deal with lawyers as equals.
Understand how to repair damage to real and personal property and the value of the repairs or the property.
Understand how to negotiate a fair and reasonable settlement with the insured that is fair and reasonable to both the insured and the insurer.
How to Create Claims Professionals
To avoid fraudulent claims, claims of breach of contract, bad faith, punitive damages, unresolved losses, and to make a profit, insurers ...
The History Behind the Creation of a Claims Handling Expert
The Insurance Industry Needs to Implement Excellence in Claims Handling or Fail
Post 5210
This is a change from my normal blog postings. It is my attempt. in more than one post, to explain the need for professional claims representatives who comply with the basic custom and practice of the insurance industry. This statement of my philosophy on claims handling starts with my history as a claims adjuster, insurance defense and coverage lawyer and insurance claims handling expert.
My Training to be an Insurance Claims Adjuster
When I was discharged from the US Army in 1967 I was hired as an insurance adjuster trainee by a professional and well respected insurance company. The insurer took a chance on me because I had been an Army Intelligence Investigator for my three years in the military and could use that training and experience to be a basis to become a professional insurance adjuster.
I was initially sat at a desk reading a text-book on insurance ...
The History Behind the Creation of a Claims Handling Expert
The Insurance Industry Needs to Implement Excellence in Claims Handling or Fail
Post 5210
This is a change from my normal blog postings. It is my attempt. in more than one post, to explain the need for professional claims representatives who comply with the basic custom and practice of the insurance industry. This statement of my philosophy on claims handling starts with my history as a claims adjuster, insurance defense and coverage lawyer and insurance claims handling expert.
My Training to be an Insurance Claims Adjuster
When I was discharged from the US Army in 1967 I was hired as an insurance adjuster trainee by a professional and well respected insurance company. The insurer took a chance on me because I had been an Army Intelligence Investigator for my three years in the military and could use that training and experience to be a basis to become a professional insurance adjuster.
I was initially sat at a desk reading a text-book on insurance ...
