Allstate Corp. (ALL), the second-largest U.S. auto insurer, is seeking fraud damages in a lawsuit alleging that a Florida brain-injury facility warehoused patients who were beaten and abused by staff. The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Tampa, seeks $7.6 million that the insurer says it paid the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation to treat its claimants, as well as triple damages under federal racketeering laws and other costs.
Allstate alleges patients from Michigan, which mandates unlimited lifetime medical benefits for automobile injury coverage, were recruited to the Florida facility through an aggressive marketing campaign that promised an array of services that were never provided.
Some patients washed the cars of the center’s employees, an activity that was considered vocational training, according to the lawsuit.
Wayne J. Miller, an attorney representing the facility, known as FINR, said the company would not comment on matters in litigation.
The lawsuit, which also named FINR owner Joseph Brennick as a defendant, follows a Bloomberg News report last month on dozens of cases of alleged abuse at the facility. Patients’ families or state agencies have accused FINR of abuse or care lapses in at least five residents’ deaths since 1998, two of them in the last two years. Three former employees face criminal charges of abusing FINR patients -- one of whom was allegedly hit repeatedly for two hours in a TV room last September.
Removals Ordered
Last week, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration said FINR was treating people without brain injuries -- in breach of its license -- and ordered the company to move dozens of patients to other facilities.
Allstate said it began investigating the treatment of its insured patients at FINR in 2011. Its review included interviewing patients, hiring experts to study medical records and ordering exams with a neuropsychologist. The lawsuit covers the cases of a dozen patients -- identified only by initials in the legal filing -- whose care was paid for by the Northbrook, Illinois-based insurance company.
In some cases, patients were kept too long at the facility or shouldn’t have been there in the first place, the lawsuit alleges.
Full Article & Source:
Allstate Sues Florida Brain-Injury Center, Claiming Fraud
See Also:
Florida Orders Brain-Injury Center to Move Some Patients
This is amazing. Allstate is suing? I wonder if this is the first time a major insurance company has sued a facility like this?
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see relief for those who have been victimized at FINR. And I'm amazed too, that Allstate is stepping up to the plate. There must be millions involved for them to get involved!
ReplyDeleteYES!!! Now if only criminal charges come after for criminal activities fraud is criminal.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame our USA government federal and state agencies won't use their TAXPAYER resources to charge fiduciaries, agents of the courts and their connected facilities for the fraud on Medicaid and Medicare.
GO ALLSTATE!!! Please take this all the way - no mercy.
And, thanks so much to Bloomber news and the brave reporter David Armstrong for taking this on, for his hard work and efforts digging into the dirt. I'm sure he uncovered other stuff that he wasn't able to disclose, yet.
Yes, Jim, you're right. Imagine how the FINR victims felt when they were abused and intimidated. Imagine how they feel now. Thank goodness for Bloomberg News!
ReplyDeleteIf only Bloomberg News would take on the issue of guardianship abuse. Pray they will!
ReplyDeleteThe suit isi a big one - $7Mill, not only for fraud, but for racketeering and other causes of action also.
ReplyDeleteWOW - Allstate filed suit? I can't believe it.I hope FINR makes national news and they are exposed for what they've done. And now Allstate's after them. That's music to my ears. Good post nasga!
ReplyDeleteI have been watching the FINR expose with incredible interest. I had the very thought expressed here: that the victims must have felt like Holocaust victims being rescued when they saw the beginning of these reports. Don't let up Bloomberg News.
ReplyDeleteRacketeering as in RICO?
ReplyDelete