On March 30, 2016, Zausmer shareholder’s Jim Wright and Michael Schwartz tallied yet another successful outcome for one of our valued insurance clients.
The plaintiff in the case was allegedly injured in a motor vehicle accident, claiming $95,000 in personal injury protection benefits and $100,000 in uninsured motorist benefits for a broken leg, head injury, surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation. Recordings of a 911 call, however, undermined the plaintiff’s allegations and suggested insurance fraud instead. The plaintiff also submitted fraudulent attendant care logs. Shortly before trial, the plaintiff attempted to withdraw the attendant care claim and argued to the jury that he was no longer “claiming” such care.
With second-chair assistance from Michael Schwartz, Jim tried the case before a judge who precluded the defense from admitting the 911 log into evidence and took an active role in questioning every witness. Despite these challenges, Jim convinced seven of the eight jurors that the plaintiff materially misrepresented the circumstances of the alleged injury and submitted fraudulent attendant care claims, which barred coverage under the insurance policy and precluded any chance the plaintiff had of obtaining case evaluation sanctions had he prevailed at trial.
Congratulations, Jim and Michael, on a hard-fought victory!
Zausmer
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