The feds have charged a Silver Spring car accident lawyer and three other people in a pathetic scheme to induce people in car accidents to fake their injuries to make personal injury claims. If you saw this episode of Law & Order, you have the gist of the allegations.
This news has insurance companies screaming “I told you so” and tort reformers dancing in the aisles. Guilt-free Schadenfreude! It is a win-win for everyone, really.
Let’s start with the platitude of innocent until proven guilty. And then let’s dispense of it quickly. We all assume this lawyer is guilty. Sure, maybe the lawyer is innocent. And maybe O.J. lies awake at night hoping to finally catch the actual killer. If so, this is an incredible injustice. But, we’ve done a risk/benefit on jumping to conclusions and, let’s be honest, we are all okay with it. If I’m called for the jury in this case, it is innocent until proven guilty. As a blogger, my verdict is already in.
The narrative will be “See why these PI lawyers are getting rich.” But, really, that is silly. Trust me, a chiropractor and a small-time car accident lawyer conspiring together are not making a fortune. This is shoplifting, not grand larceny. Our law firm can’t make a profit on soft tissue injury cases. Admittedly, this was not always the case but we don’t even take legitimate soft tissue injury cases unless there is something particularly compelling about the claim.
- Fraud at MAIF: Insurance companies also get in on the fraudulent claims
- Nationwide on fraud accident claims: actually decent advice on avoiding fraud
- Do you really need counsel in a soft tissue injury case? You probably do but it is not a lock