Commentary:

Television shows about lawyers are entertaining. “Law and Order,” in all its iterations, was a staple in my house forever. More recently, “Suits” has become an obsession. People of a certain generation will remember “L.A. Law,” and even before that, “Perry Mason.” All of these shows have memorable characters, smart dialogue, dramatic moments and

Nearly two decades ago, in 2001, New York state’s insurance regulator—then known as the New York State Insurance Department and now known as the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS)—promulgated a powerful anti-fraud regulation. The regulation, 11 N.Y.C.R.R. §65-3.16(a)(12), was intended to require that a health care provider, as a condition of eligibility

Commentary:

Success in a litigation starts with a strong attorney-client relationship. The attorney and the client must work closely together to investigate and learn the operative facts, discern the best strategy to utilize those facts, adapt that strategy as new facts emerge and, as adversaries raise counter-arguments, and ultimately decide to settle or continue the

A stranger-originated life insurance (STOLI) policy is a life insurance policy obtained as an investment for a stranger, rather than for the benefit of the insured’s beneficiaries. Public policy disfavors STOLI policies because, among other things, legislators consider them to be wagers on human life. See, e.g., N.Y. Ins. Law §7815(c) (“No person shall directly

Commentary:

Those who bet the spread in football games know that the being the home team is worth three or so points. Teams fight all year to have home field advantage in the playoffs.

In lawsuits, being the home team also matters. If you are going to be sued, or if you intend to bring

The most recent report by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on its recoveries under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) (see “Fraud Statistics—Overview, October 1, 1986 – September 30, 2018”) made it quite clear that the federal government continues to seek to combat fraud by health care providers against federal health care programs such

There are many different kinds of insurance fraud, as this column regularly observes. There can be fraud contained in applications for insurance policies, fraudulently staged accidents, and fraudulent claims by health care providers treating injured policyholders, among other things.

Insurance policies try to eliminate, or at least to cut down on, insurance fraud in a

As insurance companies continue to bring more and more civil suits for insurance fraud, defendants are raising a variety of arguments in an effort to delay—and sometimes to significantly delay—the insurers’ actions, or even to avoid judgment altogether. Two interesting new cases—one from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, State

After a term of transition for the New York Court of Appeals—with Associate Judge Eugene F. Pigott, Jr., retiring at the end of 2016, Associate Judge Rowan D. Wilson joining in February 2017, Associate Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s death in April 2017, and Associate Judge Paul G. Feinman joining at the end of June 2017—the 2017-2018 term

Health insurance fraud continues to be a problem in New York as well as nationally. Nothing may illustrate this better than two recent reports, one issued by New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) and the other issued jointly by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services