Unique Insurance Fraud In Louisiana

Three Cases Dismissed Because of Suit Against an Insurer who Did Not Insure the Plaintiff

Post 4804

McClenny, Moseley & Associates (MMA) has had serious problems with the US District Courts in Louisiana and what appears to be an effort to profit from what some Magistrate and District judges indicate may be criminal conduct to profit from insurance claims relating to hurricane damage to the public of the state of Louisiana. In April and May several cases have been the subject of motions for Summary Judgment from insurers who were sued by MMA who was sanctioned by the District Courts and new lawyers took over the cases only to find the plaintiffs had no right to sue since they were not insured by the insurer defendants. For a representative sample note the information from the following three cases:

In Ave Duruisseau v.  Farmers Property & Casualty Insurance Co, No. 6:22-CV-03860, United States District Court, W.D. Louisiana, Lafayette Division (April 26, 2024) Summary Judgment was granted because there was no genuine issue of material fact for trial because Farmers did not insure Plaintiff's property.
In Hester Cole v.  Foremost Insurance Company Grand Rapids Michigan, No. 2:22-CV-03514 United States District Court, W.D. Louisiana, Lake Charles Division (April 26, 2024) the court granted Summary Judgment because there was no genuine issue of material fact for trial because Foremost did not insure Plaintiff's property on August 27, 2020.
In Terry Ramirez v. Atlantic Casualty Insurance Co, No. 2:22-CV-04797, United States District Court, W.D. Louisiana, Lake Charles Division (May 7, 2024), James D. Cain, Jr. United States District Judge, dealt with a Motion for Summary Judgment filed by defendant Atlantic Casualty Insurance Company (“Atlantic Casualty”). The motion was unopposed.

The suit dealt with alleged damage to a residence located at 2026 7th Avenue, Lake Charles, Louisiana, in Hurricane Laura, which made landfall in Southwest Louisiana on August 27, 2020, and Hurricane Delta, which impacted the same area on October 9, 2020. Plaintiff, who was then represented by counsel from the law firm of McClenny Moseley & Associates, filed suit in this court against Atlantic Casualty on August 25, 2022, raising claims of breach of insurance contract and bad faith. Therein he represented that he was the owner of the property represented at 2026 7th Avenue and that the property was insured under a policy issued by Atlantic Casualty. All cases filed by plaintiff's counsel were suspended due to concerns about misconduct committed by that firm. New counsel enrolled for plaintiff on July 11, 2023, and the stay was lifted.

Atlantic Casualty moved for summary judgment, showing that plaintiff is not the owner of the insured property and is not listed as a named insured under the policy and requested that the court dismiss plaintiff's claims with prejudice.

Louisiana law provides that an insurance policy is a contract and that its provisions are construed using the general rules of contract interpretation in the Louisiana Civil Code. The policy at issue is a commercial lines policy that provides lessor's risk coverage to several dwellings, including the one at 2026 7th Avenue. Doc. 20, att. 3, pp. 5-6. Darrell and Shirley Crochet are listed as the named insureds. According to Atlantic Casualty's records, they are also the owners of 2026 7th Avenue and plaintiff was a tenant at that address. The policy provides that certain individuals, such as employees, may be considered insureds in connection with the business run from that property. However, there is no basis under the policy to consider that the tenant has an insurable interest in the immovable property. Accordingly, plaintiff cannot maintain a claim for breach of contract against Atlantic Casualty. In the absence of a valid contractual claim, plaintiff's bad faith claims must also fail. The Motion for Summary Judgment was granted and all claims in this matter were dismissed with prejudice.

The result of these three cases indicates that the MMA firm had a problem with the truth and filed suits on behalf of people who were not insured by the insurer defendant and was, as a result, a suit based on fraudulent allegations.

ZALMA OPINION

The last 28 issues of Zalma's Insurance Fraud Letter has described the problems faced by MMA and insurers in the state of Louisiana who were required to defend false and fraudulent lawsuits.

(c) 2024 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.

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