March was one of those fun months regarding surveillance. We had quite a few really nice (50+ degree) days sandwiched between small stretches of garbage weather, causing flurries of claimant activity!! Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that was itching to make the most of those breaks in the weather! The war stories continue…
One case, very close to home for me, made it pretty easy to keep a close on this guy. Fortunately for him, his injuries were not in question. As a matter of fact, they were described as “an absolute awful situation” by our client. Unfortunately for him, his claims to the physical restrictions and the ability to no longer carry on a normal way of life, were very much in question. Many days of surveillance were conducted on this claimant; stationary and manned surveillance. Most days yielded plenty of subject activity…and most of which yielding very damning evidence against both his physical restrictions and normal functionality claims. The claimant was able to drive almost every day. This was an activity in question. Not only was driving not an issue, but it was later proven that he was, in fact, driving young children to school, among other destinations! If this wasn’t quite enough to disprove his claims, or at the very least create a strong argument, we watched a bit closer. Lo and behold, driving was just the tip of the symbolic iceberg, making our client’s argument concrete against his claims. The claimant was found to not only split wood, utilizing a large gas driven log splitter, but he then made it a routine to collect the fallen pieces of apparent firewood and stack it. After stacking firewood, the claimant would wrap small bundles in plastic and load them into the rear of his pickup truck. He would then drive around and deliver his product to gas stations along the M-59 corridor. A nice little business for a man with no ability to function normally…but I digress…
Up north Michigan is a great place to visit; however, not always the most fun to conduct surveillance; however, Tawas, MI was very favorable in this one! Injuries to this claimant, to include driving anxiety, did not keep him from working with the tree service company, but it did keep him from driving company vehicles. Well, under his own admission anyways… We were informed that the claimant still continued to work, but now just as a brush pick-up man and other types of minor clean-up labor. The first morning the claimant was driven to meet a fellow employee, things looked grim. He rode as a passenger to a collection area of tree service trucks at a local gas station. No surprises…yet… The claimant then jumped into a large truck, hauling a trailer and piece of heavy equipment, and drove he and another employee to a job site!! What a turn of events! Now, if that wasn’t enough, the claimant was observed on site for hours as he conducted brush pick-up, along with conducting tool maintenance, assisting in anchoring the piece of heavy equipment and hauled large branches and logs across neighboring lawns. Needless to say, further surveillance did not seem necessary to this client…
One more “quickie”, this one from the center of the mitten. Multiple injuries to this claimant had kept her from going back to work. Okay, this one actually was an ongoing surveillance (or case re-open) of the same surveillance file conducted in February; however, the shenanigans continued! She made all of her scheduled medical appointments last month. Good for her! Well, good for us too as it made establishing surveillance a bit easier. Yep, she showed to all of her appointments, driven to each by a friend or family member because driving was “just too difficult.” I think she meant driving was just too difficult on her days of scheduled appoints because she was found driving, dining out, shopping and maneuvering in a normal fashion on ALL subsequent days of surveillance. That may be a pretty tough “good days/bad days” defense…
March picked up right where February left off, right where January left off…anyone see a pattern here in regard to insurance scam/fraud???
Until next month….