Different Crimes, Different Victims, Different Witness, No Double Jeopardy
(c) Barry Zalma
Mar 12, 2024
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Post 4753
Gregory Sewell appealed the order that denied his motion to dismiss based upon double jeopardy. In Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania v. Gregory Sewell, No. 1497 MDA 2022, No. J-S27016-23, Superior Court of Pennsylvania (February 27, 2024) the Pennsylvania court resolved the dispute.
FACTS
On April 2, 2021, a vehicle operated by Sandra Ramirez was struck by a driver who left the scene without exchanging information or rendering aid. In investigating Ms. Ramirez’s emergency call, Hanover Police Officer Zachariah Lloyd identified Sewell, who had a suspended license, as the driver of the other vehicle and obtained his insurance policy information. Officer Lloyd discovered that on June 15, 2021, Sewell informed his insurance adjuster in a recorded call that Sewell had been the victim of the hit-and-run by a speeding police vehicle and that he had waited at the scene for more than half an hour after calling the police, who never arrived.
The Commonwealth charged Sewell with insurance fraud and with accidents involving death or personal injury, duty to give information and render aid, duties at stop sign, drivers required to be licensed, and unlawful activities. The latter case terminated when Sewell pled guilty on August 25, 2022, to driving while his operating privilege was suspended.
Sewell thereafter filed a motion to dismiss the current case on double jeopardy grounds, asserting that the insurance fraud prosecution arose from the same criminal episode as the one that culminated in his guilty plea such that it was subject to the compulsory joinder statute.
ANALYSIS
Sewell’s counsel filed a petition to withdraw. The court denied counsel’s petition and ordered the parties to file new briefs since there was a possibility that the double jeopardy argument might be successful.
The question of whether a defendant’s constitutional right against double jeopardy would be infringed by a successive prosecution is a question of law.
A criminal episode is an occurrence or connected series of occurrences and developments which may be viewed as distinctive and apart although part of a larger or more comprehensive series.
A mere de minimis duplication of factual and legal issues is insufficient to establish a logical relationship between offenses. Rather what is required is a substantial duplication of issues of law and fact. Two separate offenses may constitute the same criminal episode if one offense is a necessary step toward the accomplishment of a given criminal objective or if additional offenses occur because of an attempt to secure the benefit of a previous offense or conceal its commission.
As the District Attorney’s Office was investigating the first case, that investigation led to the charges in the second case. The District Attorney’s Office investigated the accident further and discovered that Sewell allegedly lied on a recorded phone call to his insurance adjuster. Although the second event of the alleged fraud stems from the initial hit-and-run incident, the court concluded that it simply creates a “de minimis” connection.
Sewell pled guilty to a summary charge of driving while operating privilege is suspended while the current case is graded as a felony to prove its case for false/fraudulent insurance claim. To prove insurance fraud the Commonwealth needs to show that Sewell knowingly and with the intent to defraud any insurer filed a claim that contains any false, incomplete or misleading information concerning any fact or thing material to the claim. There is no overlap in the elements of the law because the first case Sewell pled guilty to driving a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, revoked, or cancelled and before those driving rights were restored.
Analyzing the totality of the circumstances in this case, this court found that there were two separate criminal episodes. The crimes themselves, namely driving under suspension and insurance fraud, have no common elements or logical connection.
The cases have different victims, different affiants, and occurred in different places on different days. The trial court properly held that the relationship between Sewell’s hitting another vehicle and driving away while his driver’s license was suspended on the one hand, and his decision to call his insurance company months later and claim that someone else damaged his vehicle on the other, was not so substantial that they amounted to a single criminal episode. The order was affirmed.
ZALMA OPINION
There is little similarity between a hit-and-run accident and a false insurance claim months later for the damage caused by the hit-and-run. Driving without a license is a crime in Pennsylvania, especially when causing damage and injury to others. Insurance fraud is a lie told to an insurance company with the intent of causing the insurer to pay a claim it does not owe. They are separate crimes with separate evidence. The fact that the damage for Sewell’s false insurance claim came from the hit and run does not change the fact of a different crime.
(c) 2024 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
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Please tell your friends and colleagues about this blog and the videos and let them subscribe to the blog and the videos.
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Go to X @bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://lnkd.in/gV9QJYH; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://lnkd.in/gV9QJYH..
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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...
