If you were born and raised in New Jersey like me, you’ve heard your share of New Jersey jokes from interlopers who think the entire state looks like the Turnpike near Newark Airport. (“What exit?” How wonderfully clever.) My response to these jokes is two-fold. First, trust me on this, we don’t like you, either.
Fraud
Detecting fraudulent certificates of insurance
By Gene Killian on
Posted in Crime or theft, Fraud
Here’s a piece of useless trivia for you. You know that old saying that something “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on”? The saying apparently originated back in 1861, when Count Johann Bernhard von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen (remember him?), an Austrian statesman, was presented with a document recognizing Italy as a nation-state, and first uttered…
Insurance coverage (or maybe not) for computer fraud
By Gene Killian on
In the world of insurance, computers are the new “environmental.”
Let me explain. Back in the 1980s, the insurance industry, recognizing the magnitude of exposure it faced for environmental liabilities, embarked on a public relations campaign to convince courts and policyholders that no coverage existed for environmental problems under comprehensive general liability insurance policies. (The…
Insurance Coverage for Employee Theft
By Gene Killian on
Sadly, it’s a scenario I’ve seen far too many times in the past 30 years of doing insurance coverage work. A trusted employee in the bookkeeping or accounting department isn’t properly supervised or audited, and begins siphoning off cash to support gambling debts, a drug habit, or expensive tastes. Sometimes, the employee starts taking cash…
Insurance coverage for allegations of fraud
By Gene Killian on
Few things are certain in life. Death. Taxes. The ineptitude of New York Mets management. And also, the fact that if you sue an insurance company in state court, and the carrier has a basis upon which to remove the case to federal court, they’re going to do it. Insurance companies think that federal judges…