North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Experts Debate New Workers’ Comp Fraud Case out of Quakertown, PA
A sad and disturbing fraud case out of Pennsylvania has North Carolina workers’ compensation policy makers and analysts furiously debating a number of moral and ethical quandaries.
Background
On April 29, authorities arrested 43-year-old Christina Gamble for workers’ comp and insurance fraud stemming from a claim she made in November 2007 that she allegedly made under false pretences.
The PA Attorney General’s office alleges the following:
Gamble had been working for the restaurant Red Robin, when she fell on November 9, 2007 and hurt her back. The restaurant alerted its insurance carrier. In November 2008, a judge awarded her benefits for workers’ compensation. She collected over $22,700 in disability benefits and $4,100 in medical expenses before being caught working in a new capacity – as an exotic dancer for C.R. Fanny’s Gentlemen’s Club and Sports Bar. A private investigator tipped off an agent of Highmark Insurance, which had been representing Red Robin. Since Gamble made her claim on the basis that she could barely move her back, her work as a dancer for hire obviously completely undermined her claim.
Gamble is due in court on May 7. If she is convicted of both accounts of insurance fraud and theft, she could face 14 years in jail and $30,000 in fines.
Workers’ comp and insurance fraud are obviously reprehensible. Enforcement of North Carolina workers’ compensation laws must be strict to ensure that people who do play by the rules get treated fairly and that system-wide costs don’t get out of control. Nevertheless, this case illustrates – or at least implies – how difficult it can be for some people to recover from bad injuries or occupational diseases. Here is a story of a waitress who presumably hurt herself and then did a wrong thing by stealing from her employer’s insurance carrier. But (likely) the news story does not give us the full human dimensions of Gamble’s struggle. As anyone who has personally dealt with North Carolina workers’ compensation issues can tell you, it’s not easy to handle insurance companies or to figure out how to correctly and efficiently get your life back on financially solid ground.
To that end, before you or a family member does something dumb like try to defraud an insurance company or misreport numbers on your workers’ compensation form, connect with an ethical, reliable, and results-proven North Carolina workers’ compensation attorney to discuss your situation in confidence. A free consultation can give you the strategic guidance you need to make wise and ethical decisions about how to move forward and recover from an injury, both medically and financially.
More Web Resources:
Christina Gamble fraud saga
Strip club no cure for her bad back
