After clearing the House and Senate committees, two bills aimed at propelling Maryland's fraud-fighting efforts now await Gov. Martin O'Malley's signature.
If brought to fruition, the bills would accomplish two objectives:
- Allow state insurance administrators to seek civil penalties against fraudsters.
- Modify the state's immunity law to ostensibly provide more of an incentive for sources to assist with investigations.
Under HB-1094/SB-811, the state would be permitted to impose fines on guilty parties and pursue restitution to recoup the expense of investigation. Lawmakers believe forcing criminals to pay beyond what they stole would ultimately undermine larger operations, such as staged auto-accident rings, which plague Maryland, New York, Florida, and other states. In addition to hindering potential profits associated with this schemes, the measure would send a clear message to would-be scammers while putting a damper on rings' recruitment of accomplices.
The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (CAIF), which testified in support of both bills before the Maryland House and Senate committees, notes that in general, civil actions have higher odds of success than criminal prosecutions because the burden of proof is lower.
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