Washington Woman Ordered to Pay $300,000 in Insurance Fraud Case

A King County, Wash., Superior Court judge has ordered Issaquah’s Linda Ann Rose to pay and forfeit a total of $300,000 in restitution to insurance companies for fraudulent injury claims after a minor accident in a parking lot.

According to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, on Nov. 13, 2004, Rose was involved in a parking lot collision in Issaquah. An SUV backed out of a parking stall and struck Rose’s rented Ford Mustang. Photos of both vehicles show minimal damage, but Rose claimed that she suffered severe back injuries as a result of the collision.

In 2007, her attorney demanded $656,874 from the SUV owner’s insurer, and subsequently filed a personal injury lawsuit in the case.

Investigators from the Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Special Investigations Unit subsequently concluded that Rose knowingly provided altered medical records to her attorney, and that she had had an injured back “well before” the accident.

Rose entered a modified guilty plea to three felony counts of using false claims or proof in an insurance claim.

She was ordered to pay $250,000 to Progressive, $25,000 to Metlife, and to forfeit another $25,000 in a structured settlement from Metlife that had not yet been paid.

Source: OIC