Allstate Insurance Company, a publicly held personal insurer in the US, has filed an insurance fraud claim against 27 New York-area defendants, seeking to recover $2m in damages.
The defendants include multiple physicians, chiropractors, medical professional corporations, and clinic lay-owners allegedly used to control the medical professional corporations, including 18 individual defendants currently under federal indictment.
Allstate has alleged that nine New York medical professional corporations were fraudulently incorporated using the names of licensed medical physicians and chiropractors while a lay-owner secretly owned and controlled the firms.
The corporations include including St. John Medical Care, Lenox Wellcare Medical, CB Chiropractic, New Age Orthopedic Rehabilitation, First Aid Medical Care, Rosedale Medical, TDL Medical, LDT Medical, and West End Chiropractic.
Allstate said it is seeking reimbursement for no-fault benefits it paid on behalf of its customers.
More than $175m in damages have been sought by Allstate in 32 fraud lawsuits in New York State filed since 2003.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, the state of New York is in an insurance fraud crisis and no-fault fraud is costing New Yorkers hundreds of millions of dollars year-after-year.