Does that title make any sense? Didn't think so, but then isn't falsely accusing an innocent injured worker of insurance fraud in some cases, an act of fraud itself? That doesn't make any sense either, but it seems to be happening more and more these days here in California! DA's around the state chasing after injured workers with the most marginal of cases; cases that wouldn't even pass muster at a preliminary hearing, trying to hang a conviction for insurance fraud on their backs. At the same time, there has not been a single prosecution of a Workers Compensation insurer for fraud despite the fact that some very strong cases have been brought to the attention of the Department Of Insurance and county District Attorneys.

Why do they do it? Well, there's a simple answer for that question; so that they can prove to Steve Poizner's Department of Insurance, Fraud Assessment Commission, that they are worthy of the money grants that they apply for each year from the multi-million dollar Fraud Fighting money chest that amasses from all those surcharges on insurance policies sold in the State of California. That they can deliver successful fraud prosecutions for those all important statistics, but at what cost and to whom?

What is the Fraud Assessment Commission you say? Well it's like a good old boys club that meets about 4 times a year, mostly in relative obscurity until recent attempts to publicize its meetings. When video cameras were brought into the meeting room, they were forced to set up in a little space all the way at the back of the room where no one could be seen or heard. At that time, the room didn't even have a public address system to assist the hearing impaired.

A classic example of this warped thinking process was the conviction of Anita Blick of La Honda, California, a rural enclave just behind Redwood City, in the hills overlooking the San Mateo Coast.

Anita is a mid-fifties, grey haired grandma, a career dispatcher with the Town of Atherton Police Department until she was injured on the job in the normal course of her work. She injured her knee requiring surgery. The city accepted her claim and it was never disputed, but someone in City Hall felt for whatever reasons that she should be surveiled by a private investigator hired by the Cities Group who insures most municipalities in the county.

This, after her Workers Compensation attorney caught the insurer violating the laws that were supposed to protect her rights. The insurer appealed the adverse decision of the administrative law judge all the way to the State Supreme Court with no success. Within 30 days of that decision, the San Mateo County DA arrested her for multiple counts of insurance fraud, definitely an act of retaliation for sticking up for her rights.

This type of legal misconduct is happening more and more these days with the adverse changes that were made to the Labor Code by SB899 (short for Steal'em Blind) the Arnold Schwarzenegger/Chuck Poochigian gift to the insurance industry that they pulled off in 2004.

But Anita's story had a somewhat happy ending. She appealed her conviction not for insurance fraud (they were unable to convict her of that) but for her sin of omission, Section 550b3 of the Penal Code, an ambiguous hook in the law which desperate DA's use when all else fails. They claim she did not tell her doctor that she could drive to her appointments for which she served 60 days in jail in solitary confinement. It was overturned by a unanimous decision of the Appeals Court as the judge had not properly instructed the jury as to the type of offense.

She is no longer a convicted felon, even though the stigma and horror of that ugly experience still haunts her, and she is out almost $150,000 dollars that was used for her defense and appeal costs from the proceeds of mortgaging her family home. Oh and I forgot to tell you, during this whole ugly process, she lost her husband, her key witness, to cancer.

But what about the other Anita's in this state? And trust me, there are many! Police dispatcher, assistant principal, tanker truck driver, school custodian, alarm company worker, county disability employee, the list goes on and on.

Those good folks who did nothing wrong but try to heal from their injuries. What gives these insurance companies the right to invade the lives and privacy of California citizens when their ultimate goal is to reduce their financial exposure to work injuries, however they can, by hook or crook? And why are judges simply accepting the flawed work product from private investigators as the gospel, when they simply know better?

But most of all, why are District Attorneys, whose job it is to protect the public from those evil criminals who would prey upon us, preying upon us themselves to get their piece of the Fraud Fighting pie?

Think about it?