Allstate

Allstate Insurance Company has started to attack insurance fraud aggressively using a novel approach. Rather than filing a lawsuit to recover losses upon discovering what it believes to be evidence of insurance fraud, Allstate is now waiting patiently.

Allstate uses what they call "window cases" to get a look into how the suspected practice conducts its fraudulent business. There are two types of window cases. In the first type, Allstate finds a patient in a case it suspects is fraudulent, and offers them immunity from any lawsuits in return for revealing all the details they know about how the practice works.

In the other type of window scenario, Allstate will contest paying a suspected fraudulent case so the case will go to trial. Allstate's intent here is to depose the doctor in order to better understand how the practice conducts its fraudulent business.

After patiently collecting all the information it can about individual cases, and information obtained from such window cases, Allstate then submits a federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act case against the practice(s). The intent behind RICO, enacted in 1970, was to make it easier to prosecute organized crime figures, although that was not the exclusive intent.It's reasonable to assume Allstate is using RICO because it allows not only for recovery of attorney fees and costs of going to trial, but also treble damages triple the amount of actual damages. RICO includes treble damages as a way to help drive criminal enterprises out of business. These treble damages can be imposed in both civil and criminal cases, which should be a significant deterrent if people know about this.