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Insurance Fraud

The Charge

People charged with insurance fraud are alleged to have attempted to obtain insurance funds or some other benefit that they are not entitled to under their policy. Police and Crown counsel treat insurance fraud seriously because fraudulent claims account for a significant portion of all claims received by insurers and cost billions of dollars to insurance providers. Types of insurance fraud are diverse and occur in all areas of insurance. They can vary in range of severity, from minor exaggeration of a claim to deliberately causing an accident or damage. Those charged with insurance fraud are generally prosecuted under s. 380 of the Criminal Code – Fraud over $5000.  If the fraudulent misrepresentation involves a claim for loss or damage of a motor vehicle, people may be charged uinder s. 42 of the Insurance (Vehicle) Act. British Columbia law subjects those convicted of defrauding I.C.B.C. to fines of up to $50,000 and jail for up to 2 years.

The Investigation

Whether under the Criminal Code or the Insurance (Vehicle) Act, a person being investigated for insurance fraud is typically suspected of making a false representation to the insurer. Often, the first contact a suspect will have is not with police, but rather, with an insurance adjuster or an investigator employed by the insurer. Significantly, because it is not the government dealing with the suspect through a police agent, an insurance fraud suspect has no right to be advised of their right to silence or their right to counsel before they are engaged in conversation by a civilian investigator.  For this reason, we strongly advise anyone being investigated of insurance fraud to contact us before going into any type of interview. We are generally able to assist people with their obligation to provide information to an insurer without providing information that may incriminate them.

When retained by clients who are being investigated for insurance fraud, our goal is to assist our client with their obligations to communicate with the insurer, and to decrease the chance of a charge being approved. In those cases, however, where police are recommending charges, our job is to work toward ensuring that our clients are not arrested in a public or embarrassing way. Rather, we will work with police and Crown and attempt to bring our client to answer to the charge in an out-of-custody, businesslike fashion.

Recent Successes

R. vs. L.W. – Vancouver Provincial Court

Charges: Aggravated Assault; Breach of Undertaking; Assault police officer; Mischief to property.
Issue: Given the seriousness of the facial injuries to the complainant and the ensuing assault of the arresting police officer, whether a lengthy prison sentence was appropriate.
Result: Mr. Gauthier was able to steer our client through an extensive program of rehabilitation and, after gearing Mr. Gauthier's submissions in a contested hearing, the Court granted our client a conditional sentence of only 3 months, followed by 2 years probation. No jail.

R. vs. T.J. – North Vancouver Provincial Court

Charge: Theft Under $5000.Issue: Whether there was substantial likelihood of a conviction.
Result: Mr. Gauthier provided information and made representations to Crown counsel which ultimately led Crown to agree that there was no reasonable likelihood of a conviction. Stay of proceedings. No criminal record.

R. vs. M.S. – Burnaby RCMP Investigation

Charges: Assault, mischief under $5000.
Issue: Whether it was in the public interest to proceed with the criminal prosecution.
Result: Mr. Mines was able to persuade the investigating  RCMP officer to allow our client tp apologize to the complainant through Restorative Justice. Police did not seek to have any criminal charges approved. No criminal record.

R. vs. I.K. – Vancouver Provincial Court

Charge: Fraud Over $5000.
Issue: Whether our client would be sentenced to a jail for this $10,000 fraud from his employer.
Result: Notwithstanding that our client had a previous criminal conviction for a similar breach of trust offence, Mr. Gauthier was able to persuade Crown counsel to not seek a jail sentence. After hearing Mr. Gauthier's submissions, the Court sentenced our client to a term of house arrest. No jail.

R. vs. K.Y. – Vancouver Provincial Court

Charges: Assault by choking (x2); assault (x2); mischief under $5000.
Issue: Whether it was in the public interest for the Court to enter a conviction against our client.
Result: Mr. Mines was able to persuade Crown counsel to proceed on only one count of common assault and to stay all remaining charges. After hearing Mr. Mines' submissions, the court granted our client a conditional discharge and placed him on probation for 12 months.No criminal conviction.

R. vs. T.F. – Vancouver Provincial Court

Charges: Theft Under $5,000, Obstructing a Peace Officer, Uttering Threats.

Issue: Whether a jail sentence was appropriate in all the circumstances.

Result: Mr. Johnston was able to direct our client to the appropriate community supports with respect to his rehabilitation. Given the positive change in our client's circumstances, the sentencing judge accepted Mr. Johnston's submission that a community based sentence was appropriate rather than the 60 jail sentence sought by the Crown. No jail.

R. vs. B.K. – Port Coquitlam Provincial Court

Charge: Assault.
Issue: Whether it was in the public interest for our client to be granted a conditional discharge.
Result: Mr. Gauthier was able to persuade Crown counsel to make a joint submission without the necessity of our client being required to complete counselling. After hearing Mr. Gauthier's submissions the court granted our client the discharge. No criminal conviction.

R. v. R.L. – New Westminster Supreme Court

Charge: Sexual Assault.
Issue: Whether there was a substantial likelihood of a conviction and whether it was in the public interest to continue with the prosecution in this retrial after a deadlocked jury decision.
Result: upon considering all of Mr. Mines' representations, Crown counsel entered a stay of proceedings. No jail. No criminal record.

R. vs. J.H. – Richmond Provincial Court

Charge: Sexual Assault.
Issue: Whether there was a substantial likelihood of a conviction and whether it was in the public interest to continue with the prosecution in this retrial after a deadlocked jury decision.
Result: upon considering all of Mr. Mines' representations, Crown counsel entered a stay of proceedings. No jail. No criminal record.

R. vs. B.J. – Downtown Community Court

Charge: Theft of property of a value not exceeding $5,000
Issue: Whether there was a substantial likelihood of conviction and whether it was in the public interest to proceed with the prosecution.
Result: Mr. Johnston identified weaknesses in the available video evidence which persuaded the Crown to direct a stay of proceedings on the charge. No jail. No criminal record.

R. vs. A.M. = Vancouver Provincial Court

Charges: Assault with a Weapon; Assault Causing Bodily Harm.
Issue: Whether there was a substantial likelihood of conviction and whether it was in the public interest to proceed with the prosecution.
Result: Mr. Johnston provided Crown counsel with information about our client’s circumstances, including his lack of prior criminal offending, his efforts at rehabilitation, and the fact that a conviction for either offence could result in the client’s deportation, an outcome which Mr. Johnston argued would be disproportionate to the seriousness of alleged offences. At the same time, Mr. Johnston pointed out weaknesses in the evidence against our client. The Crown directed stays of proceedings on both charges. No jail. No criminal record.

R. vs. A.V. – Vancouver Provincial Court

Charges: Uttering Threats x3; Criminal Harassment; Breach of Release Order (domestic).
Issue: Whether there was a substantial likelihood of conviction and whether it was in the public interest to proceed with the prosecution of these matters.
Result: Mr. Gauthier was able to persuade Crown counsel that it was more appropriate to deal with these matters in the context of Family Court. Ultimately Crown did not approve the uttering threats and criminal harassment charges and Mr. Gauthier persuaded Crown that there was no public interest in prosecuting the breach charge and to enter a stay of proceedings. No jail. No criminal record.

The Defence

Crown counsel has the obligation to prove insurance fraud beyond a reasonable doubt. What this means, essentially, is that Crown must prove that the accused, with the intention to defraud, provided false information to the insurer. Generally, a defence to insurance fraud is that the accused did not intend to provide a false statement, but rather, the information was provided in good faith. The common denominator of any insurance fraud claim is, therefore, the intent to defraud. In evaluating whether a person had the intent to defraud, it is important to analyze their experience and background. Is this a motorist’s first claim? Did they completely misrepresent a fact or merely exaggerate the fact? Did the person know that what they misrepresented was wrong?

We’re always happy to hear from clients during the investigation stage of their case. This is because we are often able to offer these clients the best potential outcome – the chance of no charges being approved at all. In our many years of defending fraud charges, we’ve learned that many complainants are more interested in being compensated for their loss than they are in pursuing a criminal conviction. Our goal, therefore, is to attempt to negotiate a civil settlement of a suspected fraudulent insurance claim. A civil settlement will often result in the complainant not wanting the criminal charges to proceed but, even when charges do proceed, restitution will be seen as a mitigating factor by the court.

In cases where Crown does proceed with insurance fraud prosecutions, our job is to prepare for trial so as to challenge any evidence that is not properly brought before the court. This may include challenging search warrants or production orders. It may also include exclusion arguments based on the Canada Evidence Act which sets out the rules that Crown counsel must comply with in order to tender business records, banking records and electronic documents into the trial process. Ultimately, our goal is to work toward keeping our clients out of custody and/or preventing them from being convicted of insurance fraud.

Start with a free consultation.

If you are being investigated by police or if you’ve been charged with a criminal or driving offence, don’t face the problem alone. Being accused of an offence is stressful. The prospects of a criminal record or jail sentence can be daunting. Even if you think there is no defence, we may be able to help. To schedule a free initial consultation with one of our Vancouver lawyers, contact us now.