WCDefenseCA

Are you excited, dear readers?  It’s the first Friday of 2019 and it appears that no one had as their New Year’s resolution to file a libel or malpractice lawsuit against your humble blogger.  2019 is shaping up to be a pretty great year already!

I bring you the story of an injured worker charged today with felony charges for insurance fraud, perjury, and identity theft after she allegedly filed a claim for an injury sustained prior to commencing work for her employer.

I’m declining to name names became, as yet, there’s no conviction, but WorkCompCentral has an article on this story.

The applicant-turned-criminal-defendant is accused of using someone else’s social security number to file a claim.  She also is alleged to have lied about her start date and when the injury was sustained – the employer and its insurer found 6 prior claims all resolved by way of C&R.

The workers’ comp claim has already been dismissed but the criminal charges remain.

So, here’s a thought your humble blogger has – the application for adjudication of claim form has space, on page 4, where the applicant can declare “other cases have been filed for industrial injuries by this worker as follows:”

Well, often enough we see that part of the application left blank.  But we also see the same applicant attorney representing the same injured worker on claim after claim, yet leaving the field blank.

How could the attorney (or the applicant) sign and file an application that omits the prior claims?  Furthermore, what consequences are there for such an omission?

I’m afraid I haven’t seen many consequences handed out for such practices.  Have you?

As always, dear readers, share your thoughts in the comments or via e-mail to your humble blogger.

Have a great weekend!