Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill into lawtoday making it a specific crime to stage a car accident to stealinsurance money.

His action drew praise from the Coalition Against InsuranceFraud, which mentioned that Maryland is the second state in thenation to pass such a measure. "We commend Maryland for taking thisstep," said Howard Goldblatt, the Coalition's government affairsdirector.

The bill(HB 1409) would also limit access by outsiders to policeaccident reports, thus making it harder to recruit real crashvictims to participate in insurance schemes involving fake injuryclaims. The law takes effect October 1 and was sponsored by Del.Dereck E. Davis, D-Prince George's County.

On a national scale, both reforms are relatively new anti-fraudtools. Only Florida has adopted both measures, and the District ofColumbia also limits access to police reports.

Mr. Goldblatt said such targeted fraud laws give prosecutors acourtroom tool providing leverage that can increaseconvictions.

"Phony injury claims can be highly profitable. That profitincentive makes the rings persistent, well-protected and hard topenetrate and bust. They can be equally hard to prosecute incourt," noted Mr. Goldblatt.

Such laws, he said, "help gut staged accident rings byconvicting the kingpins. Without this law, prosecutors would haveto use other laws that may not as easily fit the elements of thiscrime."

According to Mr. Goldblatt, the specific crime also serves as adeterrent, "signaling to would-be-fraudsters that police and othersare watching for these scams."

Staging a crash would carry a penalty of up to 15 years in stateprison and fines of up to three times the amount of stoleninsurance money.

The measure was put forward, the coalition said, after itsuggested the language to a state legislator who was seekingeffective bills to attack accident rings.

According to the coalition, Maryland's densely populatedBaltimore-Washington, D.C., corridor is becoming a growing targetof auto-fraud rings.

Mr. Goldblatt said that the loosely organized fraud rings willtypically pack cars with passengers, then either maneuver innocentmotorists into crashes or crash their cars into each other.

Often working in concert with crooked medical clinics andlawyers, the so-called "passengers" will make bogus claims fortreating nonexistent injuries. Usually the clinic labels themsoft-tissue back and neck injuries, such as whiplash. These aremedically subjective and hard for insurers to dispute, thecoalition said.

In some cases, no cars are involved. The accidents and injurieshappen solely on paper.

Limiting access to police accident reports, the coalition said,addresses another facet of auto fraud rings: enlisting victims ofreal crashes. Ring members use police reports to identify victims,and then aggressively try to recruit them for unneeded or phantomtreatment at crooked clinics, whether or not the victims areinjured.

Only accident victims and reporters could access the reports for60 days after the crash. Conviction would mean up to 15 years inMaryland state prison and a $10,000 fine.

"Relentless focus and pressure are the best strategies forbreaking down highly insular accident rings. There's no substitutefor the constant--almost daily--pursuit by prosecutors armed witheffective fraud laws," Goldblatt says.