From time to time, your humble blogger has offered advice to his beloved readers.  Sometimes this is in a one-on-one e-mail exchange, and sometimes it is offered more broadly as part of a blog post.  But, as with all things, one gets exactly what one pays for, and free advice is no exception.

Today, however, your humble blogger offers this advice upon which he is ready to stake his professional reputation.  If this advice leads you astray, may the mighty deities of the California Bar strike my license down in all their righteous vengeance.  The following advice is submitted for your consideration:

If you are claiming an industrial injury which precludes you unable to stand, run, reach, or grab, DO NOT (and your humble blogger, despite his linguistic skill and rhetorical expertise, simply is incapable of articulating this prohibition with sufficient gravity) appear on a nationally broadcast television show in which you jubilantly, and without the slightest sign of pain, repeatedly stand, run, reach, and grab.

Now, to some of you, this may appear obvious, and no advice at all.  This may seem as common sense that should be discarded, as your own most natural instincts of self-preservation would keep you from doing this, while your inclinations of honor and honesty would stop you from lying about your injuries in the first place.

For the rest of you, please consider the story of Ms. Cathy Cashwell.  Ms. Cashwell claimed an industrial injury to her shoulder for which she was apparently receiving $3000 (or there about) in workers’ compensation benefits, when she went on The Price is Right.  She clapped, she bounced, she ran, she jumped, she hopped up and down as happy as a clam, and she even got to spin the big wheel.

Law enforcement officers were not impressed.

Now, normally your humble blogger would not waste your time with a non-California case or story, as wasting your time with California issues is sufficient to make me happy. However, this is a story that is a bit hard to pass up in relating.

When I was diligently working in the Insurance Fraud Unit at the District Attorney’s Office, my old mentor imparted some valuable law enforcement advice: “we don’t catch the smart ones.”

Ms. Cashwell pleaded guilty to fraud back in 2013, but your humble blogger just became aware of this case recently.  May this blog post be the most frustrating experience you face this week!