A South Texas attorney was indicted on 16 counts of insurance-related fraud after an investigationalleged he filed numerous roof hail damage lawsuits against insurers onbehalf of homeowners he never met.
The Tarrant County grand jury's June 5 indictment alleges thatRichard Kent Livesay engaged in organized crime by submittinglawsuits against insurance companies between 2014 and 2016 withoutfirst getting the homeowners' consent.
Fighting insurance fraud
The case was presented to the grand jury by Doug Wallace, a TarrantCounty special assistant district attorney. He is one of sixprosecutors paid by the Texas Departmentof Insurance to work in district attorney offices across thestate to fight insurance fraud.
"You had homeowners learning they were parties to a lawsuitbrought by an attorney they had never heard of," said TDI FraudDirector Chris Davis. "When insurance fraud occurs, we're allvictims because it leads to higher rates for consumers."
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
John Council
Senior reporter John Council is a native Texan who covers litigation and appellate courts in his home state. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @john_council
