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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 09, 2025
Pro Se Plaintiff’s Frivolous Suit Dismissed

Suit Claiming Ex-President Attempted to Kill Plaintiff for Profit, Insurance Fraud, Assaults, Battery, and False Imprisonment Dismissed

Post 5070

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In a suit entitled Ivette T Echenidue v. President Biden, et al., Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-00517 (UNA), Judge Chutkan of the United States District Court, District of Columbia (April 17, 2025) refused to acknowledge the claims of the plaintiff.

Judge Chutkan explained that Echenidue’s suit was before the court on its initial review of plaintiff’s pro se complaint. The court granted the in forma pauperis application and, for the reasons explained below, dismissed the case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i), by which the court is required to dismiss a case “at any time” it determines that the action is frivolous.

IS THE ACTION FRIVOLOUS?

Judge Chutkan noted that “A complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)).

A complaint that lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact is frivolous and a complaint plainly abusive of the judicial process is properly typed malicious.

Plaintiff, who purports to be from Ohio, Florida, and Georgia sued President Biden, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, and the Fifteenth Circuit Court of Alabama in Montgomery County, although it appears that she may attempt to sue others who are not listed in the case caption. The allegations were quite difficult for an experienced judge to follow. It consisted of a hodgepodge of alleged wrongdoing, borne out of a purported government conspiracy evidenced by “death for profit, coverups, bribes, court malfeasance, racketeering, embezzlement, collusion, insurance fraud, assaults, battery, and false imprisonment.”

Plaintiff further alleged that the defendants have threatened her with murder, and that President Biden led a charge to alienate her from her mother, who was also deprived of medical care, “stripped of her rights,” “killed for profit,” and denied a “Roman Catholic burial.” In the prayer Plaintiff demands $800 million in damages from each defendant and calls for their prosecution.

CONCLUSION

Judge Chutkan concluded that plaintiff’s allegations were frivolous, and the court cannot exercise subject matter jurisdiction over a frivolous complaint.

The federal courts are without power to entertain claims otherwise within their jurisdiction if they are so attenuated and unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit including where the plaintiff allegedly was subjected to a campaign of surveillance and harassment deriving from uncertain origins.

Applicable here, a court is obligated to dismiss a complaint as frivolous when the facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational, wholly incredible or postulate events and circumstances of a wholly fanciful kind.

Plaintiff’s allegations are sufficiently fanciful to warrant dismissal under this standard. Even generously construing plaintiff’s complaint, her allegations fail to rise above pure conjecture. For those reasons, she dismissed the suit without prejudice.

ZALMA OPINION

In 1968, when I was a law student, I was required to work in a legal aid office in Venice, California, which at the time was a slum occupied only by poor, unemployed and helpless. During that time I was faced with people asking for my legal assistance by a man who claimed he invented the Norton Bomb Site that was stolen from his mind by the US Government, a man who identified himself as Jesus of Nazareth seeking assistance for his creation of Christianity and many people who were in the process of being evicted from their homes for failure to pay rent. I learned that there wee many people who spoke clearly, intelligently, competently with what appeared to be truthful but were absolutely insane. I learned to be kind but not believe or try to assist the insane and hope to help them gain psychiatric help. Judge Chutkan apparently had a similar background and faced with the amazing and fanciful lawsuit had no choice but to dismiss it as frivolous.

(c) 2025 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.

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3 hours ago
Insurance Fraudsters are not Nice – They Are Criminals

Lawyers Attempt to Protect Assets of their Clients Charged with Insurance Fraud From Seizure by State Fails

Post 5071

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In The People v. David M. Browne et al., B332304, California Court of Appeals, Second District, Seventh Division (May 6, 2025) find criminal defense lawyers in contempt.

Attorneys David M. Browne and George A. Shohet appeal from the trial court's denial of their special motion to strike (Code of Civ. Proc., § 425.16, subd. (b)(1)) an affidavit filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office on behalf of the People of the State of California to initiate a civil contempt proceeding against Browne, Shohet, their clients, and others based on alleged violations of three temporary restraining orders that barred the transfer or encumbrance of specified properties and assets. The trial court issued the ...

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May 08, 2025
Umbrella Policy Only Effective After Primary Policy is Exhausted

Workers’ Compensation Availability Eliminates Cover Under D&O Policy
Post 5069

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace is Subject to Workers’ Compensation Law

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Rice Enterprises, LLC (“Rice”) appealed the District Court’s order dismissing its claims for insurance coverage against Zenith Insurance Company and partially dismissing its claims against RSUI Indemnity Company. Rice argued the District Court erred in applying two exclusions from the Zenith policy and in finding that coverage under RSUI’s “Umbrella” policy had not been “triggered.”

In Rice Enterprises, LLC v. RSUI Indemnity Co and Zenith Insurance Company, No. 24-1880, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit (April 30, 2025) affirmed the decisions of the District Court.

FACTS

Rice operated eight McDonald’s franchises in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. On September 21, 2021, Rice’s former employee, ...

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May 07, 2025
There is no Free Lunch

Insured May Limit the Extent of UM Coverage Acquired

You Only Get What You Pay For

Post 5068

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Sonya Harness was employed as a home health nurse with Volunteer Staffing, Inc. On July 10, 2021, Ms. Harness was injured in a two-car collision while driving her vehicle in connection with her employment. She later sought uninsured motorist benefits under a business automobile liability policy issued to her employer.

In Sonya Harness v. John Mansfield et al., No. E2023-00726-COA-R3-CV, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Knoxville (April 30, 2025) resolved the dispute.

FACTS

Arguing that the uninsured motorist coverage in the business policy did not apply to the Ms. Harness’ accident, the insurer successfully moved for summary judgment.

At the time of the accident, she was driving her own vehicle, a Chevrolet Trax, within the course and scope of her employment. Ms. Harness had ...

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April 30, 2025
The Devil’s in The Details

A Heads I Win, Tails You Lose Story
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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...

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April 18, 2025
When a Plaintiff in an Insurance Bad Faith Case Seeks Punitive Damages The Plaintiff and Counsel Must Consider the Effect of State and Federal Income Taxes

Punitive Damages Must Be Added to Gross Income for Tax Purposes

See the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/punitive-damages-must-added-gross-income-tax-purposes-barry-n08yc and at https://zalma.com/blog plus subscribe at https://barryzalma.substack.com/subscribe.

This blog post is just a taste of the full article that is only available to subscribers to Excellence in Claims Handling. Anyone can subscribe to “Excellence in Claims Handling” at https://barryzalma.substack.com/subscribe for only $5 a month or $50 a year.

A TASTE OF EXCELLENCE IN CLAIMS HANDLING

The stated purpose of punitive damages is to punish a wrongdoer civilly to deter the wrongdoer and others from acting wrongfully. Insurance Bad Faith litigants dream of large punitive damage awards as a bonus and revenge upon the insurer that did not treat them fairly.

Punitive damages may be awarded where there is substantial harm and where there is none. [Restatement (First) of Torts § 908 cmt. c (Am. L. Inst. 1939); see also ...

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March 13, 2025

Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/duties-liabilities-insurance-brokers-barry-zalma-esq-cfe-mmpbc, if you Subscribe to “Excellence in Claims Handling” at https://barryzalma.substack.com/subscribe for only $5 a month or $50 a year.

Duties and Liabilities of Insurance Brokers

Posted on March 12, 2025 by Barry Zalma

Excellence in Claims Handling

This blog post is just a taste of the full article that is only available to subscribers to Excellence in Claims Handling. Anyone can subscribe to “Excellence in Claims Handling” at https://barryzalma.substack.com/subscribe for only $5 a month or $50 a year.

Cases in which insurance brokers’ liability is in question depend in part on whether brokers are seen to be serving a fiduciary role or simply acting as a conduit between the insured and the insurer.

A person or an entity is a fiduciary with respect to a plan to the extent:

he exercises any discretionary authority or discretionary control respecting management of such plan ...

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