Sixteen New Yorkers are the targets of the latest fraud lawsuit filed in the state by Allstate Insurance.

Allstate is seeking to get back more than $1.1 million fromwhat, according to the company, was its ninth insurance fraudlawsuit in 2011. The suit was filed in Federal District Court onDec. 30.

The latest suit names individuals involved in the allegedillegal ownership of professional medical corporations, and allegesthat the defendants submitted fraudulent claims for services thatwere done by independent contractors—a violation of the state’sno-fault auto-insurance law.

Allstate and other insurers, as well as state leaders, arecurrently seeking to reform the New York no-fault law. The system is plagued by fraud, whichcosts the state’s residents millions of dollars each year in whatamounts to what the insurance industry has coined a “fraudtax.”

The Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer has sued to recover more than$185 million in fraud-related damages in New York since 2003.

In its latest court filing, Allstate claims a chiropractor andothers supposedly controlled two medical corporations allegedlyowned by a medical doctor, and used these entities to submitfraudulent claims to the insurers. Four others are named asdefendants for their alleged roles in being part of thisscheme.