During the deadly Las Vegas shooting in October 2017, many California peace officers attending the event jumped into action, pulling attendees to safety. In the course of doing so, some of the off-duty deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators were injured. Prior to Assembly Bill 1749 (an amendment to Labor Code Section 3600.2), these individuals…
A retired LAPD officer was arrested under charge of Workers’ Compensation fraud, following an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department Special Operations Division, Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit. The officer, Terry Johns, joined a controversial program known as Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) in July 2014. A month later he filed a Workers’ Compensation claim…
For years California has had an unfortunate and expensive tumor growing in it’s budget: worker’s compensation fraud. Some of the biggest cases make headlines – like last year when a ring was uncovered that was allegedly responsible for $40 million in fraudulent claims. That story cited a staggering 13,000 patients and 27 insurers as victims….
In the face of Donald Trump’s successful campaign, which relied heavily on undocumented immigrant issues, California has declared itself a “sanctuary state”. This essentially designates protections for undocumented immigrants – in addition to instructing local and state police to offer federal authorities limited cooperation on illegal immigrant issues. In direct response to California’s Sanctuary State…
February 19, 2018 On January 12, 2018, a former Southern California hospital owner was sentenced for to more than five years in prison for filing fraudulent workers’ compensation claims. The former Pacific Hospital owner was also fined $500,000 for masterminding a $600 million workers’ compensation scheme. He pled guilty to charges of paying illegal kickbacks…
Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Modern-Day Slavery at Oklahoma Chicken Plant Three workers submitted a class-action lawsuit in late October 2017, claiming that they had to work as little more than slaves at a chicken processing plant as part of their drug rehabilitation program. Judges in jurisdictions across the nation have ordered defendants to work at these…
November 6, 2017 Now that medical marijuana is legal in many states, including Maine, they will need to consider if workers’ compensation covers the use of the drug. However, since marijuana is still illegal according to federal laws, the insurer might be held legally responsible in drug charges under the law. The details of the…
September 5, 2017 An investigation by the Orange County District Attorney began by looking at medical frauds that took advantage of Spanish-speaking people but found a large workers’ compensation referral scheme. The discovery led to the filing of fraud charges by the OCDA against 16 people, including 10 attorneys. The massive scheme involved $300 million…
April 20, 2017 Wanda Holbrook, a Grand Rapids resident and 12-year veteran of an automotive factory, died when a robot’s arm malfunctioned and pressed her head into a fixture on July 7, 2015. The Ventra Ionia Plant used robots to weld plates onto truck bumpers, and one robotic arm swung into the 57-year-old woman’s area, resulting…
March 31, 2017 In February 2017, a 26-yr.-old man received $56.5 million in a jury lawsuit award from the California Department of Transportation after he was paralyzed while working construction by Highway 101 in Eureka on Aug. 30, 2011. A 1997 Acura plowed into the worker who was partially hidden in a hole off the…