Allstate Urges Court to Save Thousands of Insurance Fraud Suits

With billions of dollars on the line, Allstate Insurance and New Jersey insurance regulators said a state appeals court must keep medical insurance fraud cases out of arbitration.

In thousands of cases annually, the insurance industry brings medical billing suits claiming damages for alleged kick-backs and racketeering schemes by medical providers. The providers would like to see those suits forced into arbitration.

During a three-hour oral argument before the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division Thursday Superior Court Appellate Division Judge Robert J. Gilson, one on a three-judge panel, openly disagreed with providers’ arguments for arbitrating medical fraud cases.

“For ...