As insurance companies continue to bring more and more civil suits for insurance fraud, defendants are raising a variety of arguments in an effort to delay—and sometimes to significantly delay—the insurers’ actions, or even to avoid judgment altogether. Two interesting new cases—one from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Mittal, No. 16-CV-4948 (FB) (SMG) (E.D.N.Y. June 25, 2018), and one from a Nevada federal district court, Allstate Insurance v. Shah, No. 2:15-cv-01786-APG-CWH (D. Nev. June 18, 2018)—reflect these developments. This column explains why the insurers were able to prevail in both instances.

The Stay Request

The insurer in the New York case alleged that the defendants—various health care providers—had engaged in a conspiracy to defraud insurance companies by issuing fraudulent bills and medical records.