Allstate Insurance v. Rozenberg

771 F. Supp. 2d 254, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30770, 2011 WL 1087475
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedMarch 18, 2011
Docket2:08-mj-00565
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 771 F. Supp. 2d 254 (Allstate Insurance v. Rozenberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allstate Insurance v. Rozenberg, 771 F. Supp. 2d 254, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30770, 2011 WL 1087475 (E.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

SPATT, District Judge.

On February 12, 2008, the Plaintiffs, a group of nine insurers, commenced this action alleging that the numerous defendants conspired to abuse New York’s No-Fault Insurance regime, N.Y. Ins. Law § 5101 et seq., in order to obtain payment for medical services and diagnostic tests that were not medically necessary, or in some cases, never performed at all. The Plaintiffs asserted common law claims for fraud and unjust enrichment, and sought damages for violations of N.Y. Gen. Bus. L. § 349, and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq. (“RICO”).

In a decision dated December 29, 2008, this Court largely upheld the sufficiency of this complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8(a) and 9(b), and in a series of subsequent decisions the Court granted the Plaintiffs’ requests for prejudgment attachment of the defendants’ assets. Subsequently, on April 21, 2010, the Plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint adding ten additional defendants that they allege were involved in the fraudulent scheme.

On July 21, 2010, two of the newly added defendants, Dimitriy Sheynkman (“Sheynkman”) and Artek Management, *258 Inc. (“Artek” and together with Sheynk-man “the Defendants”) moved to dismiss the complaint against them pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) (“Rule 12(b)(6)”) for failure to plead their involvement in the fraudulent scheme with the particularity required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) (“Rule 9(b)”), and to dismiss the complaint as against Sheynkman pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) (“Rule 12(b)(2)”), 12(b)(4) (“Rule 12(b)(4)”), and 12(b)(5) (“Rule 12(b)(5)”) for lack of personal jurisdiction, insufficient process, and insufficient service of process.

In addition, on April 22, 2010, the Plaintiffs filed their fourth motion for a prejudgment attachment seeking to attach the assets of the newly added defendants. With the exception of Sheynkman, Artek, and Prestige Management Group, Inc. (“Prestige”), all of the newly added defendants entered into stipulations with the Plaintiffs with respect to the prejudgment attachment of their assets.

In the interest of judicial economy, the Court will address both of these motions together. For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies Artek and Sheynkman’s motion to dismiss, and denies in part and grants in part the Plaintiffs’ fourth motion for prejudgment attachment on the assets of Prestige, Artek, and Sheynkman.

I. BACKGROUND

The Court set forth the details of the Plaintiffs’ allegations in this matter in its previous decision in this case, Allstate Insurance Co. v. Rozenberg, 590 F.Supp.2d 384 (E.D.N.Y.2008). Although familiarity with the factual background and procedural history of this case is assumed, a brief review is in order.

On February 12, 2008, the Plaintiffs, a group of nine insurers, commenced this action against Inna Polack, Alexander Po-lack, Natalya Shvartsman (“the Initial Management Defendants”), Mighty Management Group, Inc., Mighty Management LLC, and Blue Wave Management, Inc. (“the Initial Management Companies”), Dr. Alexander Rozenberg (“Rozenberg”), and A.R. Medical Rehabilitation, P.C. (“AR”), A.R. Medical Art, P.C. (“ARMA”), and Yonkers Medical Art, P.C. (“YMA” and together with AR and ARMA “the PC Defendants” and collectively with the Initial Management Defendants, the Initial Management Companies, and Rozenberg “the Initial Defendants”), alleging that they conspired to abuse New York’s No-Fault Insurance regime, N.Y. Ins. Law § 5101 et seq., in order to obtain payment for medical services and diagnostic tests that were not medically necessary, or in some cases, never performed at all (the “Initial Complaint”). With the exception of ARMA and YMA, all of the Initial Defendants were also subject to a criminal indictment with respect to their participation in the allegedly fraudulent scheme.

As stated in previous decisions, the basics of the alleged scheme are as follows. The PC Defendants are medical professional corporations that billed the Plaintiffs for consultations and medical procedures performed upon patients insured by the Plaintiffs. According to the Plaintiffs, Rozenberg, a licensed neurologist, was listed as the owner of the PC Defendants, but played no role in the actual operation or management of the PC Defendants. Rather, in the Initial Complaint, the Plaintiffs asserted that the PC Defendants were owned and operated by the Initial Management Companies; namely, New York corporations that are owned and controlled by Yuliy Goldman, Inna Polack and Alexander Polack. The Plaintiffs alleged that the sole purpose of the relationship between the PC Defendants and the Initial Management Companies was to facilitate a scheme to defraud the Plaintiffs by creating and submitting fraudulent medical reports and invoices for medical services in *259 support of hundreds of No-Fault insurance claims. The Plaintiffs also alleged that Inna Polack, Alexander Polack, and Rozenberg created the PC Defendants with different names, addresses, and taxpayer identification numbers to reduce the likelihood that insurers would uncover their scheme.

In particular, the Plaintiffs asserted that the Initial Defendants submitted bills for services not rendered; charged excessive fees for unnecessary medical treatment; and induced Allstate and the other insurers to pay No-Fault insurance claims to professional medical corporations that were owned by non-licensed individuals. The Plaintiffs further alleged that checks were drawn from the accounts of the Initial Management Companies and made payable to corporations owned or controlled by Emmanuel Kucherovsky (the “money laundering entities”) who, for a transaction fee, transferred these monies to Inna Polack.

In the Initial Complaint, the Plaintiffs alleged that the Initial Defendants (i) violated RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c); (ii) engaged in a RICO conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); (in) committed common law fraud and unjust enrichment; and (iv) were liable under N.Y. Gen. Bus. L. § 349 for deceptive business practices. The Initial Defendants filed motions to dismiss the Initial Complaint in April and June of 2008. By order dated December 29, 2008, this Court denied the motions as to all counts with the exception of the cause of action alleging a RICO conspiracy under the Innocent Enterprise Theory. See generally Allstate Insurance Co. v. Rozenberg, 590 F.Supp.2d 384 (E.D.N.Y. 2008).

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Bluebook (online)
771 F. Supp. 2d 254, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30770, 2011 WL 1087475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allstate-insurance-v-rozenberg-nyed-2011.