Sometimes the Best Court Decision is to Do Nothing
Post 5209
Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/abstention-protects-against-risk-potentially-fact-zalma-esq-cfe-chkzc, and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.
In Starr Indemnity & Liability Company v. Scottsdale Insurance Company, No. 24-CV-3309 (PKC) (TAM), United States District Court, E.D. New York (September 30, 2025) the parties C.C.C. and HCC filed actions against Scottsdale in New York state court regarding Scottsdale’s insurance coverage obligations.
FACTS
Underlying Labor Litigation:
Hector David Campoverde sustained injuries from a scaffold fall at a construction site in Brooklyn, New York, on September 14, 2015. Campoverde, an employee of Vazquez Bro Restoration Inc., was working for C.C.C. Renovation Inc., a subcontractor of L&M Builders Group LLC.
LEGAL ISSUES
Declaratory Judgment:
Starr sought a declaratory judgment regarding Scottsdale’s obligations under the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 policies.
Abstention Doctrine:
The court considered whether to abstain from exercising jurisdiction under the Declaratory Judgment Act (DJA) due to the ongoing State Court Action.
Priority of Coverage:
Dispute over whether Scottsdale or Starr should provide primary coverage for the claims against L&M.
Unjust Enrichment:
Starr claims that Scottsdale has been unjustly enriched by denying coverage.
DISCUSSION
Abstention is Appropriate in this Matter
The parties do not dispute that the Court has jurisdiction under the DJA; rather, they dispute whether the Court should exercise its jurisdiction.
Scottsdale moved to dismiss this action on the ground that abstention is appropriate. The primary basis for Scottsdale’s argument is that the underlying issue to be resolved-whether Scottsdale had an excess liability insurance policy in effect at the time of the accident-is currently being litigated in the pending State Court Action. Starr opposed the motion, asserting, inter alia, that there are several differences between this case and the State Court Action.
Scottsdale argued that this litigation is wholly duplicative of the litigation already pending in state court. The Court agreed. In the State Court Action, though C.C.C. discontinued its claims, Scottsdale, its agents, and HCC- the primary insurer for Starr’s insured, L&M-continue to litigate the very issue at the core of Starr’s requested relief in this action: whether Scottsdale had an excess insurance coverage policy in effect at the time of the accident.
Because the underlying question of Scottsdale’s coverage obligations is still unresolved in the State Court Action, the “risk of potentially contradictory fact finding between the state and federal court on this critical issue means that entertaining jurisdiction in this action would not clarify or settle the legal issues involved.
CONCLUSION
The Court concluded that exercising jurisdiction at this time would only further confuse them as this Court and the state court may come to differing conclusions as to whether Scottsdale had an insurance policy in effect on the date of the accident. Defendant’s motion to dismiss was denied, but its request for a stay, in the alternative, was granted and the matter was stayed pending resolution of the State Court Action.
ZALMA OPINION
I recently had a fight with a neighborhood sidewalk and fractured my nose and the base of my right eye. I went to an ENT specialist who gave me the same advice that the court gave the parties: To heal the best choice is to do nothing. The doctor, I and the USDC agreed. The best option for the case is to do nothing until the state court decision is final. Nothing can be gained from two courts with contradictory factual and legal findings.
(c) 2025 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 ...
Posted on September 18, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Insurance Expert May Not Testify to Speculative and Contains Unsupported Conclusions.
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...
Insurer’s Insistence on Keeping Premium Defeats Claim of Voidance for Breach of Condition
Posted on September 16, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Post 4845
After USAA Learned Ford Had Sold The BMW, It Did Not Attempt To Revoke The Policy And Refund The Amount Ford Had Paid For Coverage and was Estopped or Waived it Right to Revoke Coverage
In Lisa White v. USAA Insurance Agency Incorporated, et al., No. CV-24-00378-PHX-KML, United States District Court, D. Arizona (September 10, 2026) Dezmond Ford purchased a USAA automobile policy covering a 2013 BMW for August 7 through December 27, 2020, and apparently paid the full premium.
Ford later sold the BMW to Jack Eddia without notifying USAA, but kept the policy active to avoid a coverage gap. Eddia obtained title and registration and, on November 1, 2020, struck and killed Lisa White’s son while driving the BMW. USAA had accepted premiums through the accident date and, after learning of the sale, did not refund the premium attributable to the post-sale period. White obtained a $3.75...
THE SOURCE FOR THE INSURANCE FRAUD PROFESSIONAL
Posted on September 1, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter (ZIFL) continues its 30th year of publication dedicated to those involved in educing 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/
This issue contains the following articles about insurance fraud:
Long Island Rep. Laura Gillen Is Taking Aim At Criminals Who Have Been Caught Staging Car Accidents.
Time for a Federal Crime of Insurance Fraud
The accidents may be shams, but the felonies would be real. On Thursday, Gillen (D-NY) introduced the Stop Auto Fraud Act of 2026, which would make the “crash for cash” practice a federal offense punishable by up to 10 years behind bars, with sentence enhancements for smash-ups causing injury or death.
Rep. Laura Gillen is hoping her bipartisan bill will become law to give prosecutors a federal crime to prosecute cash for crash ...
