Victimized Policyholders May Triumph Due to Law Firm Malpractice

John Hopkins

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The IndyStar reports that over 8000 people who thought they had health insurance through the Indiana Construction Industry Trust Helath Plan were victimized and suffered denials of their medical claims. Executives of the company have reportedly been sent to jail for their embezzlement of millions. Sending the executives to jail, however, still left thousands of victimized policyholders holding the bag.

Ajury has delivered a verdict of 18 million dollars against the health insurer's lawyers for their failure to notify the health plan's trustees of growing financial losses being suffered by the plan:

"The verdict equals the unpaid medical claims the plan's 8,200 members faced as a result of its 2002 insolvency. It was the costliest bust of an Indiana health plan. Fillenwarth Dennerline (the law firm) suggested it would appeal the judgment. "We strongly disagree with the jury's decision and intend to pursue all of our legal options," the law firm said in a statement issued by one of its outside attorneys."

For the thousands of victimized policyholders, this verdict probably represents the difference between salvation and finacial ruin. A lesson to all insurance departments to watch the insurance industry more carefully; both for insolvency protection and for prevention of unfair excess profits.