Florida's offer of judgment statute, Florida Statutes section 768.79, is a common technique for any litigator who wants to place additional risk on the plaintiff. The statute provides that if a defendant in a civil suit files an offer of judgment that is not accepted by the plaintiff within 30 days, the defendant shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees and costs from the date of filing if the judgment is one of no liability or the judgment obtained by the ... Keep Reading »
Medpay/PIP
Round Up The Usual And Customary Suspects: Insurers May Determine UCR Prices By Shopping At Retail Outlets
For more than a decade, medical providers have tried to limit the discretion of automobile insurers to pay less than the billed amount for services and equipment offered to injured insureds. Most of these efforts involve challenges to the use of automated bill review systems. But in Freedom Medical Supply Inc. v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., No. 14-1628 (3rd Cir. June 8, 2016), a company charging 1,000% mark-ups on equipment it bought at Bed Bath & Beyond argued ... Keep Reading »
Federal Judges in Brooklyn are Making it Easier to Pursue Fraud Claims Against No-Fault Medical Providers
I was bawn in Williamsboig," he says. "An’ I can tell you t’ings about dis town you neveh hoid of." - Thomas Wolfe The Eastern District of New York, which includes the New York City Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, has been home to some of the most colorful no-fault insurance scams in living memory. In March, a Queens attorney entered a guilty plea in what the Government describes as “the largest single no-fault automobile insurance fraud scheme ever charged”—an ... Keep Reading »