N.Y. Senate Tries Again with Auto Fraud-Fighting Bills

The New York Senate has passed a number of measures meant to corral auto insurance fraud in the Empire State.

The state Senate then threw in a quick dig at the Assembly.

"The Senate has been passing bills to combat auto insurance fraud for more than a decade yet the Assembly has not acted on them [and] the problem has only grown worse," says Senate Republican Conference Leader Dean G. Skelos, in a statement.

One of the bills (S 3547) makes it a crime to stage a motor vehicle accident with intent to commit insurance fraud. A suspect would face harsher penalties if the act results in serious injury or death.

S 3033 makes "runners" illegal. Runners are people who steer accident victims to crooked medical treatment facilities that bill insurers for unnecessary treatments.

The last of the trio of anti-fraud bills from the Senate, S 1959A, all insurers to cancel policies taken out by fraudsters—many of whom pay with bad checks or stolen credit cards right before a staged accident, says lawmakers in the Senate.

"New York is awash in a tsunami of insurance fraud," says John A. Corlett, Legislative Committee Chairman for AAA New York, in a statement. "It is very encouraging to see the Senate take action on an issue that impacts so New York State residents."