Jeff Atwater: 15 Nabbed in Miami Food Truck Insurance Scam

A two-year investigation into insurance fraud has resulted in 15 arrests in Miami where lunch trucks were used to stage more than a dozen crashes, resulting in more than $800,000 in property damage and personal injury protection claims, state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater announced Tuesday.

I am confident that reforms passed this session will help stop fraud at the source while giving us more tools to go after scam artists, Atwater stated in a release. I will not stand by and let these organized crime rings steal your hard-earned dollars.

According to the release, the owners of the lunch trucks recruited participants between 2008 and 2010 to pose as the owners and staged the auto crashes.

As the 2012 session wound down, legislators approved a PIP reform package, HB 119, that would require long-form accident reports, giving people two weeks to seek medical help, allowing chiropractors to treat patients, and imposing a prohibition on allowing massage therapists and acupuncturists to be eligible for PIP claims.

The bill doesnt cap attorney fees, gives insurers 90 days to pay claims, and includes a prohibition on contingency-fee multipliers in determining attorney fees.

The bill has yet to be sent to the governors desk for his expected signature.