Transamerica Can Keep Default Judgment in Insurance Fraud Case

A father and daughter accused of defrauding Transamerica Life Insurance Co. out of around $109,000 in long-term care benefits lost their appeal Thursday to undo the default judgment entered against them.

Akop Arutyunyan and Anahit Arutyunyan repeatedly failed to comply with the district court’s discovery orders, despite being warned that continued noncompliance would result in default judgment, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

The district court applied “a measured gradational approach,” the appeals court said.

The default judgment awarded Transamerica compensatory damages of $109,381.71, statutory treble damages of $218,763.42, and attorneys’ fees of $166,394.50.

The court ...