Perpetrator of Workers’ Compensation Fraud May Not Benefit From the Fraud

A PROMISE TO NOT REPORT A CRIME IS UNENFORCEABLE

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After he was convicted of workers’ compensation fraud, plaintiff Daniel Wilson filed a civil complaint alleging that representatives of his former employer, Southworth-Milton, Inc. (SMI), conspired to extort him while negotiating the settlement of his workers’ compensation claim. The defendants in the civil action included Attorney Teresa Brooks Benoit, who represented Wilson during settlement negotiations; SMI; SMI’s workers’ compensation claims coordinator, Camille Kantorski; SMI’s insurer, Sentry Insurance a Mutual Company (Sentry); one of Sentry’s attorneys, Thomas G. Bradley; Attorney Bradley’s law firm; and a Sentry claims adjuster, Jodie Driscoll. The case brought by the workers’ compensation criminal, Daniel Wilson, was dismissed and he appealed.

In Daniel Wilson v. Sentry Insurance A Mutual Company & others, No. 21-P-399, Appeals Court of Massachusetts (February 25, 2022) the Appeals Court refused to allow Wilson to profit from his crime.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

It was undisputed that Wilson fraudulently concealed his income so that he could receive workers’ compensation benefits, he cannot recover losses that flow from that wrongdoing.

As the workers’ compensation claims coordinator for her company, Kantorski was required to report Wilson’s fraud. The Massachusetts fraud statute mandates an insurer to file a report with the state when it has reason to believe that an insurance transaction may be fraudulent. Kantorski fulfilled the obligation imposed by law and had she not done so she would have been committing an offense.

ZALMA OPINION

It takes a great amount of gall to sue your lawyer, your insurer’s lawyer and your workers’ compensation insurer after being convicted of workers’ compensation fraud because of an illegal agreement not to report the criminal to the IFB. No court will support a case against a lawyer or an insurer who were charged with wrongfully refusing to commit a crime.

© 2022 – Barry Zalma

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