The insurance industry loves to publicize when people get arrested for insurance fraud. I would suggest they and our public officials wait until those committing insurance fraud are convicted or proven guilty. Last year, I made the following comment in Public Adjuster Arrested For Intentionally Inflated Fire Claim Denies Allegations:

"Everybody deserves to be considered innocent of criminal conduct until proven guilty. That certainly was not how government officials responded to the arrest of a Florida public adjuster accused of inflating the benefits owed as a result of a fire claim."

That public adjuster proclaimed his innocence as posted in this blog. Subsequently, the charges were dropped. This week, a lawsuit was filed against many of those who allegedly caused the arrest to happen.

The discovery in this civil case will be interesting and should shed light on how "Special Investigation Units," otherwise known as insurance fraud investigators, operate. It will also shed light on how criminal investigators pursue publicity against private citizens even before they are found guilty.

Making a mistake in most things in life is no big deal. Mistakes leading to a wrongful prosecution of an innocent person in such a manner that the charges are dropped after just a little due diligence are a very big deal because they can ruin a person’s career. Reputations can easily be ruined.

To the extent possible, I will try to report on lessons and news from this case.