ZIFL Volume 27, Issue 21
Barry Zalma
Nov 1, 2023
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gxkV6rMt and see the full video at https://lnkd.in/gcze7hvA and at https://lnkd.in/g9yDwegV and at https://zalma.com/blog and https://lnkd.in/gzC4jCvG.
The Resource for the Insurance Claims and Insurance Fraud Professionals
What a Great Country!
"This article a fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud from an Expert who explains why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is posted 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."
How Insurance Fraud Can Succeed
Wo Ping Chen was trained as a physician in Hong Kong. Until Hong Kong was returned by the United Kingdom to the Peoples Republic of China, he was the best-known Orthopedist in the Crown Colony. Fearing problems with the new government he emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as a citizen of the commonwealth.
He worked as an employee of the National Health Service for a year and then obtained a work visa to the U.S. and crossed the border into the U.S. only to find he could not work as a physician without a license from a U.S. state and attended a U.S. based medical school. After one year of medical school, one year of internship in a Seattle hospital and one year as a resident Chen was able to restart his life.
Read this article and the full 20 pages of this issue at ZIFL in pdf at https://lnkd.in/gzC4jCvG.
More McClenny Moseley & Associates Issues
This is ZIFL’s seventeenth 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.
Access Restoration Services U.S., Inc. and MMA Scheme Alleged in Detailed New Orleans Court Pleading and more.
Read this article and the full 20 pages of this issue at ZIFL in pdf at https://lnkd.in/gzC4jCvG.
After Avoiding Prison Fraudster Appeals Unsuccessfully
False Lightning Strike Claim Results in Fraud Conviction
Sara Weisbeck appealed her convictions for insurance fraud: false material information and identity theft over $1500 and under $10,000, both class “D” felonies. In State of Iowa v. Sara Jo Weisbeck, No. 22-1068, Court of Appeals of Iowa (October 11, 2023) considered her pleas for mercy.
Read this article and the full 20 pages of this issue at ZIFL in pdf at https://lnkd.in/gzC4jCvG.
Health Insurance Fraud Convictions
Tampa Pain Management Physician Edward Lubin Agrees to Pay $1.5 Million To Settle False Claims Act Liability for Receiving Bribes and Writing Unnecessary Fentanyl Prescriptions
Edward Lubin, a pain management physician agreed to pay the United States $1.5 million to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by causing the submission of claims for fentanyl prescriptions that were written in exchange for kickback payments and that were medically unnecessary. The agreement resolves the United States’ claims against Dr. Lubin under the FCA. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no admission or determination of liability.
Read this article and the full 20 pages of this issue at ZIFL in pdf at https://lnkd.in/gzC4jCvGand at http://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/10/ZIFL-11-01-2023.pdf
Other Insurance Fraud Convictions
Claims Adjuster Will Serve Prison Time for Fraud Scheme
Paul Richard Massey, of Shady Spring, West Virginia, a former Allstate claims adjuster, will spend one year and a day in prison, forfeit his beach house and pickup truck to the federal government after pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
Federal prosecutors alleged that 51-year-old Massey issued 68 fraudulent checks from Allstate accounts totaling $862,871.29 while he worked as a claims adjuster in 2018 and 2019. Massey had settlement authority for up to $100,000 in his position with Allstate.
Read this article, and dozens convictions and the full 20 pages of this issue at ZIFL in pdf and read this article and the full 20 pages of this issue at ZIFL in pdf at https://lnkd.in/gzC4jCvG.
Crime Does Not Allow Insurer to Pay
Withholding Coverage for Criminal Acts Disincentivizes Criminal Conduct
Safeway Insurance Company sought supervisory writs from the judgment of the lower court which denied its motion for summary judgment. In Damien Harris v. Safeway Insurance Company Of Louisiana And Justin Rossette, No. CW 23-165, Court of Appeals of Louisiana, Third Circuit (October 25, 2023) the Louisiana Court of Appeals resolved an insurance coverage dispute over a criminal acts exclusion.
Read this article and the full 20 pages of this issue at ZIFL in pdf at https://lnkd.in/gzC4jCvG.
(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
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Insurance Expert May Not Testify to Speculative and Contains Unsupported Conclusions.
Posted on September 18, 2026 by Barry Zalma
See the full video at and at https://rumble.com/v7fmifw-expert-may-only-testify-to-what-experience-supports.html
In Michele A. Over, and The Estate Of Paul R. Over v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, and State Farm Fire And Casualty Company, Civil Action No. 23-cv-02243-PAB-STV, United States District Court, D. Colorado (September 14, 2026) Michele and Paul Over sued State Farm Fire and State Farm Auto over hail-damage and stolen-vehicle claims.
The operative dispute concerned State Farm Auto’s motion to exclude or limit opinions from plaintiffs’ insurance-industry expert, Aaron Castillo. Castillo.
Law
The proponent of expert testimony must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that an expert is qualified and that the opinions are helpful, sufficiently grounded, and reliably derived and applied. Experience-based opinions must explain how the...
150 Months in Prison for Tax Fraud
Post 4846
Posted on September 17, 2026 by Barry Zalma
See the full video at https://lnkd.in/g8rh3JBX and https://lnkd.in/gmkdy-9C, In United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, Nos. 25-10609, 25-10611, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (September 9, 2026) the Eleventh Circuit affirmed all challenged convictions, the 150-month aggregate sentence, and the challenged $4,123,474.55 restitution award.
FACTS
In United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, Nos. 25-10609, 25-10611, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (September 9, 2026) the Eleventh Circuit affirmed all challenged convictions, the 150-month aggregate sentence, and the challenged $4,123,474.55 restitution award.
FACTS
Thomas Addaquay controlled United Consolidated Accounting and Business Services (UC), nominally a check-cashing business.
The government proved a three-stage tax-refund scheme that converted the resulting refund checks into usable funds through ...
Major Fraud Perpetrator Asserts Fifth Amendment Privilege to Avoid Prosecution
Post 5489
Posted on September 14, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Fraudster Refuses to Answer Questions About His Alleged Fraud
See the full video at https://lnkd.in/gvicAMDr and at https://lnkd.in/gvicAMDr
In Great American Insurance Co. v. Gemstone Property Management, LLC, et al., No. 23-cv-9100 (LJL), United States District Court, S.D. New York (September 8, 2026) Great American Insurance Company alleged that it was defrauded through a scheme in which Subin Associates, LLP recruited individuals to stage construction-site injuries, arranged unnecessary medical treatment and litigation funding, and pursued fraudulent personal-injury claims.
Luis Manuel Garcia Salcedo, resulted in a $6 million settlement. Non-party Jose Hernandez allegedly worked as an assistant manager at Subin, operated Hernandez Associates, and owned litigation-funding companies that shared office space with Subin and provided services to its clients.
After Great American ...
Sovereign Immunity Defeats Suit Against Police Officers
Post 4866
Posted on October 21, 2026 by Barry Zalma
In Chad Lightfoot, et al. v. Progressive Direct Insurance Company, et al., Civil Action No. 26-434, United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana (October 9, 2026) Chad Lightfoot was involved in an Orleans Parish automobile accident in 2011 and filed claims with several insurers, including Progressive.
After a related civil dispute, Progressive counsel allegedly submitted a false affidavit stating that Lightfoot had fraudulently received a $50,000 payment. A New Orleans police detective relied on the affidavit to obtain an arrest warrant, and Louisiana State Police Lieutenant Alan Arcana allegedly reported that Lightfoot had received the payment. Lightfoot was arrested in 2015 and charged with theft, insurance fraud, and perjury.
Plaintiffs alleged that no record of the payment existed and that the criminal charges were dismissed on October 15, 2024.
Lightfoot and Geralyn Hawkins filed suit in October 2025 and ...
Plaintiff’s Reading of the Policy is Plaintiff’s Reasonable Allegations
Posted on October 19, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Post 4868
CLASS ACTION THAT STATES A SIMPLE CLEAR AND PLAUSIBLE CAUSE OF ACTION SURVIVES
In Sheila Marino v. Farmers New World Life Insurance Company, No. 2:25-cv-02200-JNW, United States District Court, W.D. Washington, Seattle (October 13, 2026) defendant Farmers New World Life Insurance Company’s (“FNWL”) moved to dismiss Plaintiff Sheila Marino’s putative class action involving flexible universal life insurance.
Marino filed a putative class action in King County Superior Court alleging: (1) breach of contract, (2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and (3) violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
She pleaded two theories: an “overcharge” theory and an “underpayment of interest” theory asked the Court to take judicial notice of historical Federal Funds Effective Rates.
THE LAW
Pleading Standard.
To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a ...
A Suit Filed Before the Claim Exists is Fatal
Post 4870
Posted on October 20, 2026 by Barry Zalma
In Louis Briggs v. Shaun Wimberly; Somerset Services, Inc.; And Wimberly & Associates, PLLC, and Louis Briggs v. Shaun Wimberly And Wimberly & Associates, PLLC Nos. 2024-CA-1471-MR, 2025-CA-1366-MR, Court of Appeals of Kentucky (October 9, 2026) Louis Briggs was arrested in 2014 after an incident with police and charged with several offenses, including third-degree assault.
Probable cause was found and an indictment was returned, but the charges were eventually dismissed. His attorney, Shaun Wimberly, then filed a federal civil rights suit for Briggs in a United States district court, which also asserted state-law claims. The district court dismissed most of the claims and declined to exercise jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claims. Briggs blamed Wimberly for the result, fired him, and appealed to the Sixth Circuit.
While the federal appeal was pending, Briggs filed a legal malpractice action against Wimberly in the Jefferson Circuit Court. The Sixth ...
