There seems to be no limit to the kinds of schemes that people create to defraud insurance companies and, by extension, the public, through higher premiums. Now, however, the New Jersey Supreme Court has issued a unanimous decision, Allstate Ins. Co. v. Northfield Medical Center, P.C., No. A-27 (N.J. May 4, 2017), that certainly will help to reduce insurance fraud in New Jersey—and that, if its reasoning is adopted by other jurisdictions, likely will have the same effect in states across the country.
In Northfield, the court adopted a broad interpretation of the knowledge requirement that a plaintiff must demonstrate to prove that a defendant has violated the state’s Insurance Fraud Prevention Act (IFPA), N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1 to -30. The court’s decision makes the IFPA a much stronger tool to use in the fight against insurance fraud.
