ZIFL – Volume 27 Issue 22
Barry Zalma
Nov 15, 2023
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The Resource for the Insurance Claims and Insurance Fraud Professionals
This, the 22nd issue of the 27th Year of ZIFL includes articles and reports relating to insurance fraud, including:
Insurance Fraud is a Violent Crime
Plea of Guilty of Murder for Insurance Cannot Be Withdrawn
In State of Ohio v. Darin Brusiter, No. 112410, 2023-Ohio-3794, Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga (October 19, 2023) Darin Burster (“Brusiter”) appealed for the third time from the trial court’s denial of his post-sentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
FACTS
In April 2011, Brusiter was charged with two counts of aggravated murder, with murder-for-hire and firearm specifications, kidnapping, insurance fraud, and tampering with evidence in relation to the killing of Asia Harris (“Harris”). Harris’s husband Samuel Wilson was also charged in the same indictment.
Brusiter filed a motion to suppress the statements he made to the police as being in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). On May 2, 2012, the court denied Brusiter’s motion and that same day he pled guilty to one count each of aggravated murder, kidnapping, insurance fraud, and tampering with evidence. The court sentenced Brusiter to an agreed term of “33 years to life” in prison.
Read the full article and the full issue of ZIFL at http://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/11/ZIFL-11-15-2023.pdf
More McClenny Moseley & Associates Issues
This is ZIFL’s eighteenth 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.
February 14, 2023
Looking back in time, attorney William P. Gibbens, representing MMA advised USDC Judge Michael B. North, that McClenny, Moseley & Associates admits to instances where MMA told Carriers they represented the insured when they in fact represented Apex Roofing & Restoration.
The letter sent by MMA’s Counsel William P. Gibbens reported to Judge North that, in Exhibit D, there are 856 cases in which MMA admits to telling insurers that they represent the homeowner, when they actually represent Apex Roofing. They also admit to receiving funds from carriers after making these false statements.
November 7, 2023
Louisiana State Police Investigators Told WWL-TV They Are Starting Their Investigation with Five St. Tammany Parish Cases and Expanding From There.
Read the full article and the full issue of ZIFL at http://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/11/ZIFL-11-15-2023.pdf
How an Agent Defrauded the Insurer She Represented
In Destiney Kashia Xiong v. Security National Life Insurance Company, No. 2019AP2320, Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, District III (February 22, 2022) the Court of Appeal resolved the issues raised and allowed the case to go to trial with the insurer asserting a fraud defense. Destiney sued for breach of contract and various torts. Security attempted to plead a fraud defense based on circumstances it claims to have learned of after Wang’s death-including that Wang was not Destiney’s father and that he was unaware the policies were even issued.
Read the full article and the full issue of ZIFL at http://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/11/ZIFL-11-15-2023.pdf
Health Insurance Fraud Convictions
Addiction Treatment Center Supervisor Admits to Participating in a Scheme to Defraud Federal, State, and Private Health Care Insurers
Recovery Connections Centers of America Social Worker Admits to Leadership Role In Scheme To Bill Insurers For More Full Client Sessions Than Could Be Provided In A 24-Hour Day
Mi Ok Song Bruining, 63, of Warwick, RI, a clinical social worker on November 9, 2023, admitted to a federal judge that she helped devise and execute a scheme that shortchanged Rhode Island and Massachusetts substance abuse disorder patients out of counseling and treatment services while, at the same time, defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and other health insurers out of more than $3.5 million dollars.
Read the full article and reports of dozens of convictions and the full issue of ZIFL at http://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/11/ZIFL-11-15-2023.pdf
Insurance Fraudster Was a Very Bad Man
Insurance Fraudsters Convicted of Other Crimes
In my experience those who commit property or casualty insurance fraud are seldom arrested, even more rarely are they tried and convicted. Roberto Torner was an insurance criminal who avoided arrest for his insurance fraud activities but, because he was a serious criminal and dangerous, was arrested, tried and convicted of violent crimes. He filed a motion to vacate his conviction and sentence in United States of America v. Roberto Torner, CRIMINAL No. 3:17-343, United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania (November 1, 2023) and the USDC kept Torner in Prison.
Read the full article and the full issue of ZIFL at http://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/11/ZIFL-11-15-2023.pdf
Other Insurance Fraud Convictions
N.Y. No-Fault Fraudster Pleads Guilty, Agrees to Pay $40M in Restitution
Laurelle Monet Manley-Williams, 34, A Maryland claims adjuster pleaded guilty to one count of theft after she was caught manipulating auto insurance claims so she could steal from her employers.
Manley-Williams was hired as a claims adjuster for Agency Insurance Co. in July 2018. Only two months later, she started altering auto accident claims that were assigned to her by adding fraudulent passengers and issuing benefit checks to them, which she deposited into her own bank account.
To avoid detection, Manley-Williams later deleted the fictitious passengers from AIC’s records. She was able to steal $11,440.27 from the insurer before resigning in October 2018.
Read the full article and the full issue of ZIFL at http://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/11/ZIFL-11-15-2023.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.
See the full issue at http://zalma.com/.../uploads/2023/11/ZIFL-11-15-2023.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 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.
See the full issue at https://lnkd.in/d8XPgzB6
Jury’s Findings Interpreting Insurance Contract Affirmed
Post 5105
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Madelaine Chocolate Novelties, Inc. (“Madelaine Chocolate”) appealed the district court’s judgment following a jury verdict in favor of Great Northern Insurance Company (“Great Northern”) concerning storm-surge damage caused by “Superstorm Sandy” to Madelaine Chocolate’s production facilities.
In Madelaine Chocolate Novelties, Inc., d.b.a. The Madelaine Chocolate Company v. Great Northern Insurance Company, No. 23-212, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit (June 20, 2025) affirmed the trial court ruling in favor of the insurer.
BACKGROUND
Great Northern refused to pay the full claim amount and paid Madelaine Chocolate only about $4 million. In disclaiming coverage, Great Northern invoked the Policy’s flood-exclusion provision, which excludes, in relevant part, “loss or damage caused by ....
Failure to Name a Party as an Additional Insured Defeats Claim
Post 5104
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Contract Interpretation is Based on the Clear and Unambiguous Language of the Policy
In Associated Industries Insurance Company, Inc. v. Sentinel Insurance Company, Ltd., No. 23-CV-10400 (MMG), United States District Court, S.D. New York (June 16, 2025) an insurance coverage dispute arising from a personal injury action in New York State Supreme Court.
The underlying action, Eduardo Molina v. Venchi 2, LLC, et al., concerned injuries allegedly resulting from a construction accident at premises owned by Central Area Equities Associates LLC (CAEA) and leased by Venchi 2 LLC with the USDC required to determine who was entitled to a defense from which insurer.
KEY POINTS
Parties Involved:
CAEA is insured by Associated Industries Insurance Company, Inc. ...
Exclusion Establishes that There is No Duty to Defend Off Site Injuries
Post 5103
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Attack by Vicious Dog Excluded
In Foremost Insurance Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan v. Michael B. Steele and Sarah Brown and Kevin Lee Price, Civil Action No. 3:24-CV-00684, United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania (June 16, 2025)
Foremost Insurance Company (“Foremost”) sued Michael B. Steele (“Steele”), Sarah Brown (“Brown”), and Kevin Lee Price (“Price”) (collectively, “Defendants”). Foremost sought declaratory relief in the form of a declaration that
1. it owes no insurance coverage to Steele and has no duty to defend or indemnify Steele in an underlying tort action and
2. defense counsel that Foremost has assigned to Steele in the underlying action may withdraw his appearance.
Presently before the Court are two ...
ZIFL Volume 29, Issue 10
The Source for the Insurance Fraud Professional
See the full video at https://lnkd.in/gK_P4-BK and at https://lnkd.in/g2Q7BHBu, and at https://zalma.com/blog and at https://lnkd.in/gjyMWHff.
Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter (ZIFL) continues its 29th year of publication dedicated to those involved in reducing the effect of insurance fraud. ZIFL is published 24 times a year by ClaimSchool and is written by Barry Zalma. It is provided FREE to anyone who visits the site at http://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/ You can read the full issue of the May 15, 2025 issue at http://zalma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ZIFL-05-15-2025.pdf
This issue contains the following articles about insurance fraud:
Health Care Fraud Trial Results in Murder for Hire of Witness
To Avoid Conviction for Insurance Fraud Defendants Murder Witness
In United States of America v. Louis Age, Jr.; Stanton Guillory; Louis Age, III; Ronald Wilson, Jr., No. 22-30656, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (April 25, 2025) the Fifth Circuit dealt with the ...
Professional Health Care Services Exclusion Effective
Post 5073
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This opinion is the recommendation of a Magistrate Judge to the District Court Judge and involves Travelers Casualty Insurance Company and its duty to defend the New Mexico Bone and Joint Institute (NMBJI) and its physicians in a medical negligence lawsuit brought by Tervon Dorsey.
In Travelers Casualty Insurance Company Of America v. New Mexico Bone And Joint Institute, P.C.; American Foundation Of Lower Extremity Surgery And Research, Inc., a New Mexico Corporation; Riley Rampton, DPM; Loren K. Spencer, DPM; Tervon Dorsey, individually; Kimberly Dorsey, individually; and Kate Ferlic as Guardian Ad Litem for K.D. and J.D., minors, No. 2:24-cv-0027 MV/DLM, United States District Court, D. New Mexico (May 8, 2025) the Magistrate Judge Recommended:
Insurance Coverage Dispute:
Travelers issued a Commercial General Liability ...
A Heads I Win, Tails You Lose Story
Post 5062
Posted on April 30, 2025 by Barry Zalma
"This is a Fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud that explains why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is designed to help everyone 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."
Immigrant Criminals Attempt to Profit From Insurance Fraud
People who commit insurance fraud as a profession do so because it is easy. It requires no capital investment. The risk is low and the profits are high. The ease with which large amounts of money can be made from insurance fraud removes whatever moral hesitation might stop the perpetrator from committing the crime.
The temptation to do everything outside the law was the downfall of the brothers Karamazov. The brothers had escaped prison in the old Soviet Union by immigrating to the United...
