(The Center Square) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is touting her administration's efforts to crack down on auto insurance fraud rings and staged accidents that industry experts say are driving up costs for consumers.
Hochul announced Tuesday that a joint investigation by the New York State Police and the state Department of Financial Services led to the arrests of 16 individuals on a litany of auto insurance fraud charges.
Authorities uncovered nearly $500,000 in attempted fraudulent claims across more than a dozen cases, mostly in New York City but also in Suffolk, Onondaga, Monroe, and Erie counties, the governor said.
Hochul said the busts are part of her statewide efforts to combat staged crashes, fraudulent insurance claims and other schemes "that drive up auto insurance costs for New Yorkers."
"Auto insurance fraud is not a victimless crime — every staged crash, fraudulent claim and criminal scheme ultimately drives up costs for New Yorkers who play by the rules," Hochul said in remarks Tuesday. "We’re cracking down on fraudsters and making it clear that New York will not tolerate criminals gaming the system at the expense of hardworking families."
In one case, authorities say a 28-year-old driver allegedly caused a collision in Brooklyn by cutting off another vehicle at an intersection, then claiming $16,000 in medical costs by falsely accusing the other driver of running a stop sign. The suspect was charged with falsifying business records, staging a motor vehicle accident, criminal mischief and insurance fraud, state police said.
Hochul, a Democrat who is seeking another term in office in the November elections, made auto insurance reform a key plank of her legislative agenda for the year, often tying it to broader efforts to reduce the state's high cost of living.
In May, Hochul signed legislation that seeks to crack down on staged accidents, setting limits on court-ordered damages for drivers engaging in "criminal behavior" at the time of the crash, such as uninsured motorists, drunk drivers, and fraudsters, with the goal of preventing "jackpot" payouts.
Tort reform advocates have welcomed the changes, but say New York needs to continue pushing to eliminate laws that contribute to bogus slip-and-fall lawsuits and staged car accidents.
New York's legal system is consistently ranked among the worst in the nation in the American Tort Reform Foundation's annual "judicial hellholes" report for its handling of frivolous litigation.