Pringle Quinn Anzano, P.C. » Uncategorized

PQA’s Tom Mulvihill honored by Society of Investigators of Greater Newark

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:05:07 +0000

PQA attorney Tom Mulvihill was honored on November 11, 2011 by the Society of Investigators of Greater Newark (“SIGN”). The group gave Mulvihill a Special Recognition Award for his work on behalf of a SIGN officer, who was served with a subpoena by a defendant in a pending insurance fraud lawsuit seeking information that related to an ongoing criminal investigation by the New Jersey Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. Mulvihill successfully moved for a protective order quashing this subpoena, as well as a similar subpoena served on the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), another PQA client.

The Society of Investigators of Greater Newark was formed 1966 by a group of law enforcement and corporate security representatives from the Newark NJ area, and has since grown far beyond te Essex County area. Membership today is more than 325 strong, and includes local, county, state and federal law enforcement representatives from Bergen County to Monmouth County. Agencies represented include the Division of Criminal Justice, Enforcement Bureau, Gaming and Wildlife, Gambling Commission, State Police, Office of Inspector General, Motor Vehicle Commission and Office of the Public Defender. On a Federal level, our membership consists of FBI, Secret Service, DHS, Postal Inspectors and ICE. In the corporate sector, SIGN’s members include investigators and attorneys from the auto insurance, health insurance, banking, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and trucking industries.

Pringle honored with Jean-Michel Cousteau at 2011 Monmouth University Urban Coastal Institute Event

admin — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:21:44 +0000

On October 21, 2011 Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Instituted (“UCI”) honored PQA Managing Partner and former Belmar mayor Ken Pringle with its 2011 State Coastal Leadership Award. Ocean explorer, environmentalist and film producer Jean-Michel Cousteau was also honored with the UCI’s prestigious Champion of the Ocean Award.

The awards luncheon followed the 7th Annual Future of the Ocean Symposium, at which Jean-Michel Cousteau gave the keynote: The Sutainable Future: Preserve the Ocean, Protect Ourselves, which included clips from a soon-to-be-released documentary honoring the 100th Anniversary of the birth of his father, Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Pringle served as the mayor of the Borough of Belmar from 1990 to 2010. During his tenure, Belmar established a natural beach area, which serves as a least tern nesting area, and worked with the local diving community to institute an annual underwater cleanup of the Shark River. In addition, Belmar was the first community in the state to label its storm drains with their destination body of water. Pringle led the effort to have Belmar’s Shark River receive the first in the state of New Jersey designation as a “Federal No Discharge Zone.”

In 2001, Belmar became the first municipality in the nation to restrict smoking on its beaches, an idea that was soon adopted by a series of California beach communities. Pringle was an advocate for federal beach nourishment funding and in 1997, Belmar was part of the largest beach nourishment project in U.S. history. In 1998, Pringle was invited ot testify before the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the United States Senate in support of the Water Resources Development Act of 1998, which contained important elements regarding federal funding for shore protection. He has received many awards and honors, including the Elected Leadership Award from the Jersey Shore Partnership in 2009.

Pringle has served as a member of the Urban Coast Institute Advisory Committee, since its inception in 2005. The mission of the UCI is to serve the public interest as a forum for research, education, and collaboration that fosters the application of the best available science and policy to support healthy and productive coastal ecosystems and a sustainable and economically vibrant future for coastal communities.

PQA’s Pringle Focuses Attention on “PIP Conveyor Belt” at 2011 New Jersey Insurance Fraud Summit

admin — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:48:31 +0000

On October 17, 2011 Ken Pringle gave a presentation on the “PIP Conveyor Belt” at the 14th Annual New Jersey Insurance Fraud Summit in the Taj Mahal hotel in Atlantic City.

The presentation outlined PIP fraud schemes that begin with the solicitation and recruitment of claimants immediately following an auto accident, and that rely upon kickbacks and other unlawful inducements to encourage the claimants’ referral from healthcare provider to healthcare provider, all the way to and including surgical and invasive pain management procedures in an Ambulatory Surgical Center or hospital setting. Pringle coined the “Conveyor Belt” term to describe the pattern of progression of treatment and procedures that PIP claimants undergo when they are recruited into a Conveyor Belt scheme.

The presentation was attended by approximately 100 people, including representatives of the NJ Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance, Bureau of Fraud Deterrence, county prosecutors and insurance company executives.

PQA Wins $9.7 Million Judgment Against Chiropractor and Ten Fraudulent Medical Offices

admin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:10:27 +0000

On March 30, 2011, PQA obtained final summary judgment on behalf of Allstate Insurance Company against a New Jersey chiropractor and a network of ten fraudulent medical offices he created and secretly controlled. The chiropractor created these sham medical corporations in response to the New Jersey Legislature’s adoption of the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act (AICRA), P.L.1998 c.21., which sought to curb abuses by chiropractors and other healthcare providers. Finding that the chiropractor had engaged in a pattern of fraud as defined by the New Jersey Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, NJSA 17:33A-1, et al. the Court awarded treble damages against the chiropractor personally in the amount of $9,770,126.13. New Jersey healthcare regulations prohibit chiropractors from employing medical doctors. In reaching his decision, the Honorable Robert J. Brennan, J.S.C. found that the chiropractor hired medical doctors to pose as owners of medical practices which the chiropractor in fact owned and controlled so that he could unlawfully profit from procedures they performed on his patients. Additionally, the Court found that the chiropractor illegally employed medical doctors to test patients and to recommend continued treatment by the chiropractor.

The motion was decided on remand from the Appellate Division following an earlier 2006 decision in Allstate’s favor by a different Morris County Superior Court judge. In addition to the judgment, the chiropractor will be required to pay additional damages in the amount of three times Allstate’s reasonably attorneys’ fees and costs. Kenneth Pringle Esq., Kathleen Waldron, Esq. and Denise O’Hara Esq. litigated the case, which began in 2002.

PQA’s Waldron wins judgment against defendant under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:52:43 +0000

On August 25, 2010, the Honorable Mary C. Jacobson, Presiding Judge of the Superior Court for Mercer County, entered an order finding that the transfer of a home by a chiropractor to his mother, constituted a fraudulent transaction under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, N.J.S.A. 25:2-20, et seq (the “UFTA”). The Court also ordered that PQA may file a new application for relief under the UFTA, and may apply for a final judgment up to the $525,000 amount of the value of the home that the defendant unlawfully conveyed, as well as its attorneys’ fees and costs, once the amount of the damages the defendant owes to PQA’s client is established at the conclusion of parallel proceedings that are pending in another court pursuant to the New Jersey Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1, et seq.

The UFTA motion was successfully briefed and argued by PQA Associate Kathleen Waldron. Discovery in this litigation, which included a series of third-party subpoenas to obtain the bank accounts of the defendant and his mother, and the records of the mortgage lender and broker involved in the transaction, was handled by PQA Associate Denise O’Hara.

PQA Teams Up With LifeSize to Link its Offices Via Video

kpringle — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:10:30 +0000

In July 2010, PQA joined the videoconferencing revolution. The firm’s LifeSize high definition videoconferencing system will enable the attorneys and staff in PQA’s Belmar, Morristown and Trenton offices to better communicate and collaborate with each other, and with the firm’s clients. The system will make it easier to arrange meetings and cut down on travel time and costs for both the firm and its clients, all while reducing the firm’s carbon footprint.

The Belmar office has installed the LifeSize HD Team system, which enables simultaneous video participation from four locations. The other offices are equipped with the LifeSize Express product. The system’s dual-screen capabilities enable documents and other media to be broadcast and displayed alongside the teleconferencing screen, making it easier for the firm’s lawyers and clients to collaborate from a distance.

In addition to enable real-time PQA is using the LifeSize VideoCenter appliance to stream live video presentations, updates and training sessions to its staff, clients and invited guests. The VideoCenter also enables presentations to be easily archived, so they can be accessed from the firm’s secure video library.

PQA purchased its LifeSize system through eTribeca, LLC.

PQA Conducts Internal Investigation into Complex Check-Kiting Scheme

admin — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:01:02 +0000

In December 2009, PQA was retained by the Audit Committee of a New Jersey state-chartered bank to conduct an internal investigation and provide legal counsel regarding a large-scale check-kiting scheme perpetrated by one of the bank’s customers. The Committee set a very short deadline for the completion of the investigation. Working over the Christmas and New Year holidays, PQA attorneys Kenneth E. Pringle, John A. Haulenbeek and Denise M. O’Hara reviewed voluminous bank records and other documents, and interviewed senior management and other key personnel of the bank. In early January, 2010, the firm submitted its report to the bank’s Audit Committee. Managing Partner Ken Pringle subsequently presented the results of the investigation and the firm’s legal conclusions and recommendations to the bank’s full Board of Directors.

PQA Wins Dismissal of $245 Million Suit

admin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:59:58 +0000

PQA won a stunning victory on April 22, 2009 in a civil matter pending before Judge Daniel M. Waldman in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Monmouth County, in which the plaintiffs were seeking $245 million in damages from PQA’s client. PQA was retained in July 2008 to defend a client in a highly-publicized case brought in Monmouth County by the shareholders of a subsidiary of his former employer, an international securities firm that is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange.
The suit alleged a breach of fiduciary duty and claimed damages in the amount of $245 million, which the plaintiffs’ contended was the loss in the value of their shares attributable to the alleged breach. The allegations in the New Jersey action mirrored allegations that were the subject of an earlier filed New York matter as well as those asserted in an arbitration proceeding before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). PQA’s client was separately represented in those matters by Stephen Harmon and Matthew Aaronson, Esquires, of the New York City office of Troutman Sanders, LLP.
Before the plaintiffs could commence discovery in New Jersey, PQA moved to dismiss the New Jersey action on three grounds: (1) the filing of the suit in New Jersey violated the forum selection clauses contained in the shareholders agreement, option agreement and employment contract to which the parties were bound; (2) the New Jersey court should defer to the courts of New York pursuant to the first-filed doctrine, as recently enunciated by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Sensient Colors, Inc. v. Allstate Insurance Co., Inc., 193 N.J. 373 (2008); and (3) the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring their claims against PQA’s client because the claims they asserted were derivative of the claims of the corporation of which they were shareholders, and could only be brought directly by that entity.
On April 22, 2009, Judge Waldman handed down a 31-page opinion, deciding in favor of PQA’s client on each of the above three issues, and dismissing the case in its entirety. PQA Managing Partner Ken Pringle argued the motion before the Court, and was assisted on the brief by PQA Associate Denise O’Hara.

Medical Provider Investigations

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:52:40 +0000

PQA partner Ken Pringle will present a seminar on October 27th entitled, “Medical Provider Investigations,” at the 18th Annual Anti-Insurance Fraud Training Seminar, Fraud Awareness 2008: Confronting Fraud in a Slowing Economy, which is sponsored by the NJSIA Education Foundation, Inc.

Eleventh Annual Insurance Fraud Summit

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:51:47 +0000

PQA partner Ken Pringle, who serves as General Counsel of the New Jersey Special Investigators Association (NJSIA) will make introductory remarks on behalf of the NJSIA at the Eleventh Annual Insurance Fraud Summit at the War Memorial in Trenton on October 7, 2008. The annual Insurance Fraud Summit is jointly sponsored by New Jersey’s Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, the Insurance Council of New Jersey and the NJSIA.