Los Angeles Insurance Fraud Lawyers

Los Angeles Insurance Fraud Lawyers

Whenever a person files a claim for insurance benefits, one of the first things the insurance company does is to carry out an investigation. The main purpose of the investigation is to determine whether the claim is genuine or not.

In case the insurance company finds out that the claim is fraudulent, it will most likely forward the case to law enforcement agencies.

California insurance fraud law

Insurance fraud can be described as intentionally submitting an insurance claim consisting of misleading or false information with the objective of obtaining financial benefit from an insurance company.

What actions constitute insurance fraud?

The insurance fraud law can be interpreted broadly. Some of the common activities that constitute insurance fraud include the following:

• Participating in a stage-managed car accident or faking an auto accident
• Disposing of the vehicle
• faking a vehicle theft
• presenting misleading information in order to obtain financial benefits from an insurance company among others.

For someone to be charged with insurance fraud in Los Angeles, two elements must be present. The first one is intent.

The person must have had the intention to defraud an insurance company with his or her full knowledge. The second one is that the person accused must have acted on the intent – meaning they must have filed for the fraudulent claim.

Both two elements must be present for the court to convict a defendant with insurance fraud. No loss should be experienced before or during the investigations over the fraudulent claim.

Types of insurance fraud

There are different types of insurance fraud under the California insurance fraud law. However, any type of insurance is always a target of scams and other fraudulent actions.

Below are the most common types of insurance fraud:

1. Medical insurance fraud

This is one of the most common types of insurance fraud. It includes actions such as stage-managing death or exaggerating about accident injuries.

For example, if one gets involved in an accident and files a claim indicating that they were severely injured when actually the injuries were minor, that claim can be classified as fraudulent.

2. Auto insurance fraud

This type of insurance fraud normally comes in form of property or collision fraud. It is a situation where a person purposefully gets involved in a collision in order to file a claim. Property damage involves things such as lying about the damage of a car.

3. Life insurance fraud

This kind of insurance fraud involves actions such as a questionable or staged death. For instance, a person can file for insurance benefits claiming that one of the beneficiaries of an insurance cover has passed on.

In extreme cases, some people may even commit murder of the beneficiaries in order to obtain the insurance claims.

4. Property insurance fraud

Property insurance fraud mainly involves suspicious theft. For example, a person can decide to steal from his or her own business and report it to an insurance company as theft. Arson and other types of property damage can also be deemed as fraud.

5. Workers’ compensation fraud

There are also instances when employees present suspicious claims to insurance companies with the intention to obtain fraudulent money. This may involve inflating bloating medical expenses or exaggerating the extent of injuries.

Penalties for insurance fraud

The penalty for insurance depends on the uniqueness of each case. There are three major ways through which insurance fraud is committed. This includes fraudulent property damage, fraudulent claims related to healthcare benefits, and general fraudulent claims.

A fraudulent insurance claim can either be charged as a felony or misdemeanor. A case will be classified as a misdemeanor if the insurance fraud was less than $950. A convicted person for a misdemeanor offense may go to jail for a year, a fine of $10,000, or both.

The penalties can get worse if the insurance fraud is classified as a felony. A convicted person, in this case, can be sentenced to up to five years in jail, a fine of up to $50,000, or both.

On the other hand, fraudulent damage of property is always treated as a felony. A convicted person could end up in prison for at least three years, get a fine of $50,000 or both of them.

Other than being convicted of the above-mentioned crimes, the defendant will also face restitution. This means they will be required to refund all the money lost as a result of fraud.

Defending your case in court

Considering the seriousness of insurance fraud, it is important to hire a high-qualified and experienced lawyer to represent you in court.

Contact an insurance attorney as soon as you find out that you are being investigated over insurance fraud. This will give your lawyer ample time to gather all the necessary documents and present a water-tight case in court.