People ex rel. Farmers Insurance Exchange, et al v. Maurice Hale, M.D., et al

People ex rel. Farmers Insurance Exchange, et al v. Maurice Hale, M.D., et al, case No. BC515676 (California Superior Court, County of Los Angeles; filed July 18, 2013):

In a recently unsealed qui tam lawsuit, Farmers Insurance and several other insurers allege that two imaging providers, Glendale Diagnostic Imaging Network and Central Imaging Network LLC, and their owners, Maurice Hale, M.D and Snezana Pavlovic, violated California’s Insurance Frauds Prevention Act (Cal. Ins. Code Section 1871.7), as well as California’s Unfair Business Practices Act (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code Section 17200), by submitting false bills for “3D Rendering” of MRI and CT scans which were never prescribed or performed. The complaint alleges that from 2006 to 2011, these defendants submitted these bills for “3D Rendering” on 270 automobile casualty and workers compensation claims, even though the defendants’ MRI and CT machines never had 3D rendering capability for the type of claims at issue. The complaint also alleges that one of the defendants, Central Diagnostic Imaging Network, LLC, is improperly owned by a lay person, and not a doctor, as required by California law. The plaintiffs seek over $3 million in damages.