Texas regulation agency slapped with $10m judgment over hurricane fraud

A Texas regulation agency accused of fraudulent acts associated to hurricane claims has been hit with a default judgment of greater than $10 million, together with curiosity.

The regulation agency – McClenny, Moseley & Associates (MMA) – had been sued by PCG Claims (doing enterprise as PCG Consulting), a agency that investigates and manages large-loss insurance coverage claims. A district courtroom in Harris County, Texas, awarded PCG a default judgment when MMA didn’t file a response to the lawsuit.

The judgment contains PCG’s requested damages of $9.795,003.46, plus attorneys’ charges of $24.956.21 by judgment and $3,000 for post-judgment assortment, in line with a LinkedIn publish by Matthew Monson, founder and supervisor of The Monson Legislation Agency. That quantity can also be topic to eight.5% curiosity, in line with the ruling by Choose Cheryl Elliot Thornton.

“Take out your calculators for this one – 8.5% curiosity from the date the Petition was filed below the day earlier than this judgment plus post-judgment curiosity of 8.5% from the date the Judgment is signed till it’s paid,” Monson wrote within the publish. “So curiosity has been accruing at $2,287.54 per day for 152 days to this point for complete accrued curiosity for the reason that go well with was filed of $347,705.86. Thus the present worth of the judgment is $10,170,665.53.”

The judgment is the newest chapter within the ongoing saga of MMA’s alleged misdeeds. In Could of final yr, then-Louisiana Insurance coverage Commissioner Jim Donelon fined the regulation agency and related companions $2 million for hurricane-related insurance coverage fraud involving greater than 850 Louisiana householders and policyholders.

MMA admitted that it falsely claimed to have been retained by not less than 856 Louisiana policyholders to settle claims, when it didn’t, the truth is, characterize these individuals. The regulation agency’s fraudulent conduct included presenting fee calls for, invoking coverage appraisal provisions, and receiving and negotiating settlement checks with out the authorization of the policyholders, in line with the Louisiana Division of Insurance coverage (LDI).

The intent of the fraud was to divert insurance coverage declare proceeds to the regulation agency and acquire “predatory skilled service charges” to which the agency was not entitled, the LDI stated.

“The scale and scope of McClenny, Mosely & Associates’ unlawful insurance coverage scheme is like nothing I’ve seen earlier than,” Donelon stated after the LDI issued a cease-and-desist order in opposition to MMA in February of final yr. “It’s uncommon for the division to challenge regulatory actions in opposition to entities we don’t regulate, however on this case, the order is important to guard policyholders from the agency’s fraudulent insurance coverage exercise.”

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