Statutory Benefits vs. Rights of an Indispensable Party
Posted on July 31, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Post 5415
In Yairi Vazquez De La Cruz v. Pennsylvania Financial Responsibility Assigned Claims Plan, No. 413 EDA 2025, No. J-A10037-26, Superior Court of Pennsylvania (July 29, 2026) the court was called upon to decide if Yairi Vazquez de la Cruz, who was injured in an April 16, 2019 motor vehicle accident in Pennsylvania while riding in a vehicle driven by Carol Castro was entitled to benefits from the Pennsylvania Assigned Claims Plan.
The vehicle was owned and insured by Wineska Navarro-Agosta through American Independent Insurance Company (AIIC), but Castro was not listed as a driver on the policy.
Appellee obtained a default judgment against the at-fault party, but no responsible party had insurance from which she could recover. She then, because there was no way to collect from the responsible party, he sought benefits from the Pennsylvania Financial Responsibility Assigned Claims Plan.
LAW
Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1752(a), a claimant may recover from the Assigned Claims Plan only if all statutory eligibility requirements are met, including that the claimant is not otherwise entitled to receive first-party benefits under 75 Pa.C.S. §§ 1711 or 1712 for the injury arising from the accident.
A person is only eligible to recover benefits from the Assigned Claims Plan if the person meets the following requirements:
1 Is a resident of this Commonwealth.
2 Is injured as the result of a motor vehicle accident occurring in this Commonwealth.
3 Is not an owner of a motor vehicle required to be registered under Chapter 13 (relating to registration of vehicles).
4 Is not the operator or occupant of a motor vehicle owned by the Federal Government or any of its agencies, departments or authorities.
5 Is not the operator or occupant of a motor vehicle owned by a self-insurer or by an individual or entity who or which is immune from liability for, or is not required to provide, benefits or uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
6 Is otherwise not entitled to receive any first party benefits under section 1711 (relating to required benefits) or 1712 (relating to availability of benefits) applicable to the injury arising from the accident.
7 Is not the operator or occupant of a recreational vehicle not intended for highway use, motorcycle, motor-driven cycle or motorized pedalcycle or other like type vehicle required to be registered under this title and involved in the accident.
Pennsylvania law also provides that failure to join an indispensable party is a non-waivable jurisdictional defect. A party is indispensable when its rights are so connected to the claims that no decree can be entered without impairing those rights.
Where an indispensable party is absent, the proper remedy is dismissal without prejudice.
DISCUSSION
The trial court concluded that Appellee was not entitled to first-party benefits from AIIC because an earlier declaratory judgment order found that AIIC had no duty to defend, indemnify, or provide liability coverage to Navarro-Agosta and Castro for claims arising from the accident.
Based on that conclusion, the trial court held that Appellee qualified for recovery from the Assigned Claims Plan and entered judgment for $15,000.
ANALYSIS
The Superior Court held that the declaratory judgment order did not resolve whether Appellee was entitled to first-party benefits under Part II of the AIIC policy.
The prior declaratory judgment action addressed only liability coverage under Part I and AIIC’s duties to Navarro-Agosta and Castro. It did not address AIIC’s obligations to passengers under the first-party benefits portion of the policy, nor did the record show that Appellee’s status as a passenger was considered in that action. Because the central issue in the Assigned Claims Plan case depended on whether AIIC owed first-party benefits to Appellee AIIC had a direct and essential interest in the litigation and was an indispensable party.
CONCLUSION
The Superior Court vacated the judgment, reversed the trial court’s order, and remanded with instructions to dismiss the matter without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Because AIIC was indispensable to deciding whether Appellee had first-party benefits available under the policy, the trial court could not properly enter judgment against the Assigned Claims Plan without AIIC’s joinder.
ZALMA OPINION
Seeking statutory benefits from a state fund when all responsible parties were uninsured and judgment proof requires a special kind of evidence to get money from the state. Yairi Vazquez De La Cruz tried but failed to include as a party the insurer AIIC who the court determined was indispensable to the need for the state funds.
(c) 2026 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 ...
Inadequately Briefed Issues Defeats Appeal
Post 4852
Issues on Appeal Must be Adequately Briefed
Posted on September 25, 2026 by Barry Zalma
In Emy Ojekwe v. Connecticut Transit District Consortium, No. AC 47389, Court of Appeals of Connecticut (September 22, 2026) Emy Ojekwe alleged that he was injured on September 24, 2020, while leaving a bus operated by Connecticut Transit District Consortium, doing business as Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority.
According to his complaint, the wheelchair ramp began to rise before he had fully exited, causing his wheelchair to fall backward and allegedly injuring several parts of his body and damaging the wheelchair. The defendant denied negligence and alleged comparative negligence. After a two-day jury trial in November 2023, the jury returned a defense verdict.
The trial court denied Ojekwe’s motion to set aside the verdict and for a new trial, and he appealed.
LAW
A trial court’s refusal to set aside a verdict because of counsel’s improper remarks is reviewed for abuse of ...
Inadequately Briefed Issues Defeats Appeal
Post 4852
Issues on Appeal Must be Adequately Briefed
Posted on September 25, 2026 by Barry Zalma
In Emy Ojekwe v. Connecticut Transit District Consortium, No. AC 47389, Court of Appeals of Connecticut (September 22, 2026) Emy Ojekwe alleged that he was injured on September 24, 2020, while leaving a bus operated by Connecticut Transit District Consortium, doing business as Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority.
According to his complaint, the wheelchair ramp began to rise before he had fully exited, causing his wheelchair to fall backward and allegedly injuring several parts of his body and damaging the wheelchair.
LAW
Refusal to set aside a verdict because of counsel’s improper remarks is reviewed for abuse of discretion.
Appellate claims receiving only cursory treatment, without record citations, supporting authority, or legal analysis, are inadequately briefed.
DISCUSSION
Improper opening remarks.
Defense counsel referred to Ojekwe’s national origin,...
Psychiatrist Who Was Convicted of Fraud Asked the First Circuit to Reduce his Punishment
Post 4851
Posted on September 24, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Fraud to Private and Public Health Insurers Doesn’t Pay
In United States v. Gustavo Kinrys, Nos. 24-1592, 24-1716, United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit (September 21, 2026) Gustavo Kinrys, a Massachusetts psychiatrist, submitted fraudulent claims to private and public health insurers from 2015 through 2018, including bills for more than 1,000 sessions when he or the purported patient was outside the country. When insurers requested supporting records, he delayed through a fictitious office manager and created false documentation.
A jury convicted Kinrys on fourteen counts. The district court imposed a 99-month sentence, calculated intended loss at slightly more than $19 million based on billed amounts, ordered $6,537,309.59 in restitution, and ordered $6,527,391.19 in forfeiture.
At sentencing, the district court calculated Kinrys’s base offense level to be ...
