A New York specialty insurance managing underwriter for contractors and construction risks has sued a New York City personal injury law firm and dozens of medical providers, alleging a wide-ranging scheme to defraud insurers through staged construction accidents and fraudulent medical treatments.
The 162-page federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) action marks the fifth such legal action Roosevelt Road Specialty and its reinsurance program for contractors and construction, Tradesman Program Managers, have filed since March 2024 against various medical providers, medical centers and law firms in the greater New York metropolitan area.
The complaint filed June 16 in the Eastern District of New York targets the law firm of William Schwitzer & Associates, P.C. and its principals William Schwitzer and Giovani Merlino, along with physicians, chiropractors, and other medical providers who allegedly conspired to recruit construction workers — many of whom the lawsuit says were undocumented — to stage or exaggerate workplace injuries. These workers were then referred to various allegedly complicit clinics to undergo what the suit claims were unnecessary and invasive medical procedures, including surgeries, in order to inflate personal injury and workers’ compensation claims…