Zalma on Insurance
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Insurance Claims professional presents articles and videos on insurance, insurance Claims and insurance law for insurance Claims adjusters, insurance professionals and insurance lawyers who wish to improve their skills and knowledge. Presented by an internationally recognized expert and author.
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May 18, 2022
True Crime of Insurance Fraud Video Number 75

I Don’t Need Your Stinkin’ License!

Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gi3WNR7z and see the full video at https://lnkd.in/gxkzvNE5 and at https://lnkd.in/gF2MRUks and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4200 posts.

Yuri Gasparov was 19 years old when he entered the United States from the old Soviet Republic of Georgia. Although still a teenager he was strong of will and body. In the old Soviet Georgia he had made his mark as a thief, extortionist and enforcer. Yuri was 13 years old when he first killed a man who refused to pay half his earnings to the group Gasparov joined when he was 11.

When the Soviet Union fell, he emigrated to the U.S. He saw the U.S., unlike the new Georgian Republic, as a place of opportunity for his criminal skills.

Gasparov arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on an immigrant’s Visa claiming to be a persecuted Russian Jew. He was unusual as an immigrant. There were gold bars weighing ten Kilograms and 30 carats of “D” to “H” color diamonds in his luggage. Yuri stepped off an Al Italia jet from the First Class Cabin wearing an English suit cut by a Saville Row tailor, a Gold Rolex President watch and Italian alligator leather shoes.

As he waited in the “Nothing to Declare” line at the Bradley International Terminal women in the line openly stared. They saw a handsome young man with long black hair, green eyes, an aquiline nose and a neatly trimmed Van Dyke beard. They assumed he was an Italian Actor come to try his hand at Hollywood.

A limousine was waiting to pick him up at the curb. The chauffeur held the door for him as he entered the long, white, stretched Lincoln Town Car welcoming him to the U.S. in Russian.

Yuri Gasparov had convinced the boss in Georgia that it was necessary to use the American system to make profit and leave the violent tried and true methods of making a criminal profit perfected in the old Republic of Georgia. The American system of civil justice was open to the devious, the criminal and the unethical for instant wealth.

What he did not know, basking in all the accouterments of immediate success, that knowledge of the law or how to practice law, was irrelevant to his success. All that was required of Casparian was to hang his license on the wall and wait for the profits to roll in.

Casparian did not know — or refused to learn — that his “clients” were not injured, that they never received medical treatment and that most had never been involved in an accident. Casparian convinced himself that he had achieved the American dream and was the most successful new lawyer in the state of California.

Within weeks new clients’ cases were flowing into the Casparian law firm at three times the rate as the first year of business. The three doctors were, by their billing, treating over sixty patients a day. Medical bills were forwarded to the Casparian law firm on behalf of its clients of more than $100,000 a day.

Profits increased exponentially. Casparian, sitting in his office spent most of his time watching daytime soap operas on the office television. The secretarial staff and the staff of adjusters worked 10 hours a day negotiating hundreds of claims a day. Everyone in the Casparian law firm was happy and Gasparov had purchased, for cash, a four bedroom house in Brentwood.

The staffs of the various SIUs worked together to create a database of claims from the Casparian law firm. It found that the doctors, by their billing records, were billing for more than 80 hours of work a day. Auto accident victims, although never to the same insurer twice, were involved in more than fifteen accidents a month.

The information was taken to the Major Fraud Division of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. In a task-force with the Fraud Division, California Department of Insurance and the Los Angeles Police Department, search warrants were issued for the files of the law office and the offices of the three doctors. Records were gathered and collated. Four months later arrest warrants were issued for Casparian, the three doctors and each “adjuster” in the law firm.

Gasparov, the instigator and receiver of the profits, sold his house in Brentwood when the search warrants were issued, moved to Fresno, and started an office with a lawyer who had immigrated from Kazakstan.

Gasparov’s new law office in Fresno is a great success. His position in the criminal organization has improved and he is now only third in line behind the boss in Georgia.

Without the benefit of, education, training or a license Yuri Gasparov made more money from the practice of law in California than 99 percent of the lawyers in the state and continues to earn more than any lawyer practicing in Fresno, California.
ZALMA OPINION

The insurance industry’s need to deal fairly and in good faith with everyone presenting a claim made them vulnerable to an intelligent and immoral criminal. A group of good investigators stopped the fraud only to have the courts hand out minimal sentences and allowed the instigator of the fraud to escape and proceed with his criminal pursuits elsewhere. It is time that the courts truly punish those involved in insurance fraud.

(c) 2022 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.

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. He is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected].

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Write to Mr. Zalma at [email protected]; http://www.zalma.com; http://zalma.com/blog; daily articles are published at https://zalma.substack.com.

Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://anchor.fm/barry-zalma; Follow Mr. Zalma on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/

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Videos
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15 hours ago
ANTI-SLAPP MOTION SUCCEEDS

Convicted Criminal Seeks to Compel Receiver to Protect his Assets

Post number 5291

See the video at and at and at https://www.zalma.com/blog plus more than 5250 posts.

The Work of a Court Appointed Receiver is Constitutionally Protected

In Simon Semaan et al. v. Robert P. Mosier et al., G064385, California Court of Appeals, Fourth District, Third Division (February 6, 2026) the Court of Appeals applied the California anti-SLAPP statute which protects defendants from meritless lawsuits arising from constitutionally protected activities, including those performed in official capacities. The court also considered the doctrine of quasi-judicial immunity, which shields court-appointed receivers from liability for discretionary acts performed within their official duties.

Facts

In September 2021, the State of California filed felony charges against Simon Semaan, alleging violations of Insurance Code section 11760(a) for making...

00:06:14
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February 19, 2026
Who’s On First – an “Other Insurance Clause” Dispute

When There are Two Different Other Insurance Clauses They Eliminate Each Other and Both Insurers Owe Indemnity Equally

Post number 5289

In Great West Casualty Co. v. Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Co., and Conserv FS, Inc., and Timothy A. Brennan, as Administrator of the Estate of Pat- rick J. Brennan, deceased, Nos. 24-1258, 24-1259, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit (February 11, 2026) the USCA was required to resolve a dispute that arose when a tractor-trailer operated by Robert D. Fisher (agent of Deerpass Farms Trucking, LLC-II) was involved in a side-impact collision with an SUV driven by Patrick J. Brennan, resulting in Brennan’s death.

Facts

Deerpass Trucking, an interstate motor carrier, leased the tractor from Deerpass Farms Services, LLC, and hauled cargo for Conserv FS, Inc. under a trailer interchange agreement. The tractor was insured by Great West Casualty Company with a $1 million policy limit, while the trailer was insured by Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company with a $2 million ...

00:08:46
February 18, 2026
Win Some and Lose Some

Opiod Producer Seeks Indemnity from CGL Insurers

Post number 5288

Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/guNhStN2, see the full video at https://lnkd.in/gYqkk-n3 and at https://lnkd.in/g8U3ehuc, and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5250 posts.

Insurers Exclude Damages Due to Insured’s Products

In Matthew Dundon, As The Trustee Of The Endo General Unsecured Creditors’ Trust v. ACE Property And Casualty Insurance Company, et al., Civil Action No. 24-4221, United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania (February 10, 2026) Matthew Dundon, trustee of the Endo General Unsecured Creditors’ Trust, sued multiple commercial general liability (CGL) insurers for coverage of opioid-related litigation involving Endo International PLC a pharmaceutical manufacturer.

KEY FACTS

Beginning as early as 2014, thousands of opioid suits were filed by governments, third parties, and individuals alleging harms tied to opioid manufacturing and marketing.

Bankruptcy & Settlements

Endo filed Chapter 11 in August 2022; before bankruptcy it ...

00:08:32
February 19, 2026

Passover for Americans
Posted on February 19, 2026 by Barry Zalma
“The Passover Seder For Americans”

For more than 3,000 years Jewish fathers have told the story of the Exodus of the enslaved Jews from Egypt. Telling the story has been required of all Jewish fathers. Americans, who have lived in North America for more than 300 years have become Americans and many have lost the ability to read, write and understand the Hebrew language in which the story of Passover was first told in the Torah. Passover is one of the many holidays Jewish People celebrate to help them remember the importance of G_d in their lives. We see the animals, the oceans, the rivers, the mountains, the rain, sun, the planets, the stars, and the people and wonder how did all these wonderful things come into being. Jews believe the force we call G_d created the entire universe and everything in it. Jews feel G_d is all seeing and knowing and although we can’t see Him, He is everywhere and in everyone.We understand...

February 19, 2026

Passover for Americans

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Barry Zalma

Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/passover-americans-barry-zalma-esq-cfe-5vgkc.

Available at https://www.amazon.com/Passover-Seder-American-Family-Zalma-ebook/dp/B0848NFWZP/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1584364029&sr=8-4

“The Passover Seder For Americans”

For more than 3,000 years Jewish fathers have told the story of the Exodus of the enslaved Jews from Egypt. Telling the story has been required of all Jewish fathers. Americans, who have lived in North America for more than 300 years have become Americans and many have lostthe ability to read, write and understand the Hebrew language in which the story of Passover was first told in the Torah.

Passover is one of the many holidays Jewish People celebrate to help them remember the importance of G_d in their lives. We see the animals, the oceans, the rivers, the mountains, the rain, sun, the planets, the stars, and the people and ...

January 30, 2026
Anti-Concurrent Cause Exclusion Effective

You Get What You Pay For – Less Coverage Means Lower Premium

Post number 5275

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Barry Zalma

See the video at and at

When Experts for Both Sides Agree That Two Causes Concur to Cause a Wall to Collapse Exclusion Applies

In Lido Hospitality, Inc. v. AIX Specialty Insurance Company, No. 1-24-1465, 2026 IL App (1st) 241465-U, Court of Appeals of Illinois (January 27, 2026) resolved the effect of an anti-concurrent cause exclusion to a loss with more than one cause.

Facts and Background

Lido Hospitality, Inc. operates the Lido Motel in Franklin Park, Illinois. In November 2020, a windstorm caused one of the motel’s brick veneer walls to collapse. At the time, Lido was insured under a policy issued by AIX Specialty Insurance Company which provided coverage for windstorm damage. However, the policy contained an exclusion for any loss or damage directly or indirectly resulting from ...

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