Volume 27, Issue 19, October 1, 2023
Barry Zalma
Oct 2, 2023
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gSwZcFtw, see the full video at https://lnkd.in/geXk8tvN and at https://lnkd.in/gyWx2-zm, Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://lnkd.in/gY5fRg9E and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4650 posts.
See the full video at https://rumble.com/v3ltkfq-zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter... and at
October 1, 2023 Another Anniversary
Forty-four years ago, today I left the world of the employed and became an entrepreneur by opening my own law firm. The law practice was incorporated shortly thereafter as Barry Zalma, Inc. When I opened for business on October 1, 1979, I had no clients and no certainty that I would have any in the future. I borrowed money from the bank to carry me through the first six months, rented a small office with my wife’s grandmother’s dining room table as my first desk and my secretary brought her own typewriter. I was concerned about my ability to pay the loan with my third child about to be born.
Much to my surprise, and pleasure, on October 1, 1979, at 8:10 a.m., the best claims handler in the London market, Alan Warboys, called from London and provided me with my first case as an independent lawyer to represent Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London. He, and the Lloyd’s Underwriters he represented, showed faith in me as a lawyer and insurance expert. Alan is now retired but will forever be, my law firm’s first client and a good friend.
Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/09/ZIFL-10-01-2023.pdf
More McClenny Moseley & Associates Issues
This is ZIFL’s Fifteenth installment of the saga of McClenny, Moseley & Associates and its problems with the federal courts in the State of Louisiana and what appears to be an effort to profit from what some Magistrate and District judges indicate may be criminal conduct to profit from insurance claims relating to hurricane damage to the public of the state of Louisiana.
Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/09/ZIFL-10-01-2023.pdf
Good News From the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud
When committing fraud, it is usually good practice not to do it right in front of a camera. However, this Colorado hail contractor just couldn’t help himself. The sales manager for a Colorado construction company says he may have been “too aggressive” after a surveillance camera caught him appearing to fabricate hail damage during a recent damage inspection of a home in Parker. Witnesses say David Kuntz was trying to drum up business in the Newlin Meadows neighborhood of Parker, offering to inspect homes for hail damage. He said he was unaware of a surveillance camera that was rolling as he inspected one home.
Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/09/ZIFL-10-01-2023.pdf
California Conference of Arson Investigators Training Seminar OCTOBER 16 – 19, 2023
How Insurers and Arson Investigators Have Taken the Profit from Arson-for-Profit
by Barry Zalma on October 19, 2023 = https://netforumpro.com/eweb/Shopping/Shopping.aspx...
Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/09/ZIFL-10-01-2023.pdf
Health Insurance Fraud Convictions
Caretaker Sentenced in Case of First-Degree Assault and Vulnerable Adult Abuse
Obiageriaku Iheanacho, 36, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty and was sentenced according to Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown on September 19, 2023, announced the plea and sentencing for the death of 75-year-old Ellsworth Johnson-Bey. Iheanacho pleaded guilty to first degree assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult in the first degree for her role in the assault and subsequent death of Mr. Johnson-Bey.
Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/09/ZIFL-10-01-2023.pdf
Other Insurance Fraud Convictions
Boston Employment Agency Owner Sentenced for Tax and Workers’ Compensation Fraud
Dam Ngoc Luong, 70, a Dorchester woman was sentenced in federal court in Boston for tax and workers’ compensation fraud offenses in connection with her operation of a temporary employment agency, according to officials.
Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/09/ZIFL-10-01-2023.pdf
Fraud Can Defeat Life Insurance Non-Contestability Law in New Jersey
In Nickie Vlado v. CMFG Life Insurance Company, No. 23-CV-3234 (JGLC), United States District Court, S.D. New York (August 29, 2023) the much heralded non-contestability clause in life insurance policies that prohibit an insurer from rescinding a policy because of fraud in the application for insurance is not limited by state law.
Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/09/ZIFL-10-01-2023.pdf
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 also serves as an arbitrator or mediator for insurance related disputes. 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]
Over the last 55 years Barry Zalma has dedicated his life to insurance, insurance claims and the need to defeat insurance fraud. He has created the following library of books and other materials to make it possible for insurers and their claims staff to become insurance claims professionals.
Barry Zalma, Inc., 4441 Sepulveda Boulevard, CULVER CITY CA 90230-4847, 310-390-4455; Subscribe to Zalma on Insurance at locals.com https://zalmaoninsurance.local.com/subscribe. Subscribe to Excellence in Claims Handling at https://barryzalma.substack.com/welcome. Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/barry-zalma/support Write to Mr. Zalma at [email protected];
http://www.zalma.com; http://zalma.com/blog; I publish daily articles at
Zalma on Insurance
Insurance, insurance claims, insurance law, and insurance fraud .
By 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 the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/ to consider more than 50 volumes written by Barry Zalma on insurance and insurance claims handling.
Go to Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter at https://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/ 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/ and GTTR at https://gettr.com/@zalma
Read the full article and the full 22 pages of ZIFL at https://lnkd.in/gY5fRg9E
BGo to the Insurance Claims Library – https://lnkd.in/gKCTg53 and GTTR at https://gettr.com/@zalma
The Largest Residential Burglary of All Time
Post 5407
Fraud & the Fear of Bad Faith Suits
Posted on July 22, 2026 by Barry Zalma
See the full video at https://lnkd.in/gWQQEySW and at https://lnkd.in/gyhdK6wv
This is a Fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud explaining why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is one of a collection designed to help to Understand How Insurance Fraud in America is Costing Everyone who Buys Insurance Thousands of Dollars Every year and Why Insurance Fraud is Safer and More Profitable for the Perpetrators than any Other Crime.
This is a Fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud explaining why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is one of a collection designed to help to Understand How Insurance Fraud in America is Costing Everyone who Buys Insurance Thousands of Dollars Every year and Why Insurance Fraud is Safer and More Profitable for the Perpetrators than any Other Crime.
After ...
Chutzpah is not Enough
Post 5397
Posted on July 20, 2026 by Barry Zalma
See the video and at https://lnkd.in/gNUs2XzT and at https://lnkd.in/g2MawyzX
Magistrate Issues a Search Warrant if there is a Fair Probability that Contraband or Evidence of a Crime will be Found in a Particular Place.
In United States Of America v. Frank Suess, et al., CRIMINAL No. 3:24-308, United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania (July 16, 2026) a federal grand jury indicted Frank Suess, Melissa Driscoll, and others in a 55-count health care fraud and anti-kickback prosecution arising from an alleged scheme involving medically unnecessary prescription “foot baths.”
As part of the investigation, the FBI obtained an August 19, 2022 warrant to search Driscoll’s Sterling Pharmacy Yahoo email account for emails from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020. Driscoll moved to suppress the resulting evidence, arguing that the warrant lacked probable cause, was overbroad, and rested on material misstatements and omissions.
LAW:
The ...
Fraud Shouldn’t Pay
Post 5396
See the video and at https://rumble.com/v7ctgmq-the-great-jewel-theft.html at https://youtu.be/aRbQ2sJfGwA
This is a Fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud explaining why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is one of a collection designed to help to Understand How Insurance Fraud in America is Costing Everyone who Buys Insurance Thousands of Dollars Every year and Why Insurance Fraud is Safer and More Profitable for the ¬¬¬Perpetrators than any Other Crime.
The Insured purchased, for the first time in his life, a policy of Personal Articles Floater Insurance (PAF) scheduling $125,000 worth of ladies jewelry. He advised the insurer that the jewelry was always kept in a class E safe at his residence. He also told the insurer that he was employed full time as the owner of a gasoline service station and that he had never been canceled or suffered a previous loss.
One month after the policy was ...
Day Care Owner Loses Subsidies Because She Criticized State
Post 5421
Posted on August 11, 2026 by Barry Zalma
First Amendment Right Will be Allowed to Go to Trial
In Betsey J. Grant v. Maine State Department Of Heath And Human Services, No. 1:25-cv-00490-JAW, United States District Court, D. Maine (August 6, 2026), Betsey J. Grant, a licensed childcare provider and operator of Tiny Tikes Daycare in Trenton, Maine, sued Maine DHHS and several employees after she publicly criticized DHHS before Maine’s Government Oversight Committee and alleged that officials retaliated against her.
She claimed DHHS imposed and extended a conditional license, published stigmatizing information, interfered with subsidies and program funding, removed her from a food program, rescinded an expansion grant, and used biased or falsified evidence in licensing proceedings. Following the March 10, 2023, GOC testimony, Ms. Grant alleges that foster children's subsidies (approximately $30,000) were withheld; she was removed from the ...
Rescission for Material Misrepresentation
Post 5418
Posted on August 5, 2026 by Barry Zalma
An Insurer May Rescind An Insurance Policy Where The Applicant Made A Material Misrepresentation In The Application.
In Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. 844 Knickerbocker, LLC, et al. No. 2024-10359, Index No. 602824/22, 2026 NY Slip Op 04789, Supreme Court of New York, Second Department (July 29, 2026) Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company issued commercial insurance policies to 844 Knickerbocker, LLC, and Sanjaya Mallick based on applications stating that the insured property contained two apartment units. After an underlying personal injury action was filed, Union Mutual determined that the property actually contained three apartment units and rescinded the policies on the ground that the defendants had made a material misrepresentation in the applications.
LAW:
A misrepresentation is material if the insurer would not have issued the same policy, or would have issued it only on different terms, had the true ...
Rescission for Material Misrepresentation
Post 5418
Posted on August 5, 2026 by Barry Zalma
An Insurer May Rescind An Insurance Policy Where The Applicant Made A Material Misrepresentation In The Application.
In Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. 844 Knickerbocker, LLC, et al. No. 2024-10359, Index No. 602824/22, 2026 NY Slip Op 04789, Supreme Court of New York, Second Department (July 29, 2026) Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company issued commercial insurance policies to 844 Knickerbocker, LLC, and Sanjaya Mallick based on applications stating that the insured property contained two apartment units.
LAW:
A misrepresentation is material if the insurer would not have issued the same policy, or would have issued it only on different terms, had the true facts been disclosed. To establish materiality as a matter of law, the insurer must submit documentation of its underwriting practices, such as manuals, guidelines, bulletins, or rules addressing similar risks.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS:
As a result, the...
