Los Angeles Insurance Fraud Defense Attorneys

Common Types of Insurance Fraud

Insurance fraud occurs when someone lies in order to obtain some kind of benefit to which they would otherwise not be entitled. Insurance fraud can be a State or Federal offense. As a State offense, insurance fraud punishable under California Penal Code Sections 549-550. There are many ways an individual or organization can commit insurance fraud.

Types of insurance fraud investigated by the California Department of Insurance’s Fraud Division include:

• Automobile
• Fire
• Healthcare
• Life
• Medical
• Property
• Workers’ Compensation

How to Fight an Insurance Fraud Charge

In order to show that insurance fraud occurred, the prosecution must prove the following:

• The suspect had the intent to defraud
• An act of fraud was completed

It is important that the act and the intent come together. One without the other is not a crime. This means that if you committed fraud unintentionally, you won’t be convicted.

However, an actual loss is not needed to convict. As long as you committed an act with the intent to defraud you may still be convicted, even if no money was lost by the victim.

Fighting an insurance fraud charge can be difficult, but if you hire a Los Angeles insurance fraud defense lawyer with extensive experience fighting such charges, you can set yourself to achieve the best possible outcome. A defense attorney will come up with a defense that reflects you in the best possible light.

Possible defenses for insurance fraud include:

• Duress: This defense is used if you were forced to commit insurance fraud against your will, because someone threatened you, for example.
• Entrapment: This defense can be used if you were pressured or encouraged to file a fraudulent insurance claim by an agent of law enforcement.
• Lack of intention: If you committed insurance fraud on accident, we may be able to use this defense in your favor.
• Lack of knowledge of falsity: Similar to the above, this defense can be used if you were unaware that what you wrote or said was false.
• Mistaken identity: This defense involves claiming that you did not fill out fraudulent insurance paperwork or carry out a fraudulent act, but that someone else did under your name.
• Withdrawal from conspiracy: This defense can be used if the prosecution claims that you conspired with others to commit insurance fraud. You may be able to avoid conviction if you withdrew from the conspiracy before fraud was actually committed.

Call Lessem, Newstat & Tooson, LLP Now

There is no one-size-fits-all insurance fraud defense. An experienced Los Angeles insurance fraud attorney will help you fight your insurance fraud case by looking at the specific facts of your situation and applying them to your defense. At Lessem, Newstat & Tooson, LLP, we focus first on our clients and tailor everything we do to their particular wants and needs. Then we work together to come up with an innovative and fool-proof defense just for you.

Give us a call for a free consultation to discuss your case at (818) 643-3093.