United States v. Robert A. Lebovitz

669 F.2d 894, 1982 U.S. App. LEXIS 22448, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 1264
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJanuary 21, 1982
Docket81-1612
StatusPublished
Cited by55 cases

This text of 669 F.2d 894 (United States v. Robert A. Lebovitz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Robert A. Lebovitz, 669 F.2d 894, 1982 U.S. App. LEXIS 22448, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 1264 (3d Cir. 1982).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

SLOVITER, Circuit Judge.

Robert Lebovitz was convicted of thirteen counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. The indictment alleged a conspiracy between Lebovitz, a lawyer, and others to defraud insurance companies. The government evidence showed that Le-bovitz and another lawyer in his firm, Lewis Kwall, conspired to submit inflated medical bills to insurance companies in connection with claims made on behalf of Lebo-vitz’ clients for payment of their medical expenses and for compensation for their personal injuries. Fraudulent medical bills were provided by Dr. Jack H. Pincus. The jury convicted Lebovitz on all charges alleged in the indictment. He was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of one year and one day, and was fined a total of $14,000 plus costs of prosecution.

On appeal, he raises several issues including: (1) whether the mailings charged and proven in Counts 5, 10, 13 and 14 were sufficiently related to the fraudulent scheme to support the mail fraud convictions on those counts; and (2) whether the district court erred in admitting the testimony of a prosecution witness under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) without an express determination that its probative value outweighed its prejudicial effect. We affirm.

I.

Mail Fraud

The mail fraud statute prohibits the use of the mails “for the purpose of [896]*896executing” a scheme to defraud.1 18 U.S.C. § 1341. Whether a mailing is “for the purpose of executing a scheme” within the meaning of § 1341 depends upon whether it is “sufficiently closely related to respondent’s scheme to bring his conduct within the statute.” United States v. Maze, 414 U.S. 395, 399, 94 S.Ct. 645, 648, 38 L.Ed.2d 603 (1974); United States v. Brown, 583 F.2d 659, 664 (3d Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 909, 99 S.Ct. 1217, 59 L.Ed.2d 456 (1979). The completion of the scheme must depend in some way on the mailings charged. United States v. Brown, 583 F.2d at 664; United States v. Tarnopol, 561 F.2d 466, 472 (3d Cir. 1977). However, “[i]t is not necessary that the scheme contemplate the use of the mails as an essential element.” Pereira v. United States, 347 U.S. 1, 8, 74 S.Ct. 358, 362, 98 L.Ed. 435 (1954), quoted in United States v. Maze, 414 U.S. at 400, 94 S.Ct. at 648. Rather, it is sufficient if the mailing is “incident to an essential part of the scheme.” Pereira v. United States, 347 U.S. at 8, 74 S.Ct. at 362. See United States v. Adamo, 534 F.2d 31, 36 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 841, 97 S.Ct. 116, 50 L.Ed.2d 110 (1976) (“It is enough that the use of the mails merely furthers the scheme. . . .”); United States v. Giovengo, 637 F.2d 941, 944-45 (3d Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1032, 101 S.Ct. 1743, 68 L.Ed.2d 228 (1981) (applying Pereira test to wire fraud statute).

Use of the mails after the object of the scheme has been accomplished is not sufficiently closely related to the scheme to support a mail fraud conviction. United States v. Brown, 583 F.2d at 664. However, the object of a scheme is not necessarily accomplished at the moment when the perpetrator of the fraud receives the fruits of the scheme. Id. In some cases, subsequent mailings may still be “for the purpose of executing” the scheme because they are, for example, “designed to lull the victims into a false sense of security, postpone their ultimate complaint to the authorities, and therefore make the apprehension of the defendants less likely than if no mailings had taken place.” United States v. Maze, 414 U.S. at 403, 94 S.Ct. at 650. See United States v. Sampson, 371 U.S. 75, 80-81, 83 S.Ct. 173, 175-76, 9 L.Ed.2d 136 (1962).

In the counts which Lebovitz does not challenge as insufficient to support the mail fraud charges, the mailings generally related to the claims presented by Lebovitz on behalf of his clients for medical payments and personal injuries. In the four counts which are challenged, Counts 5, 10, 13 and 14, the mailings were related to third-party claims asserted by the original defendants against the plaintiff drivers alleging the drivers were totally or partially liable for the injuries to their own passengers. The plaintiffs’ liability carrier, not Lebovitz, represented the plaintiff drivers as third party defendants.

Lebovitz contends that all of the claims involved in his scheme “were directed to either the medical payment carrier or the liability carrier representing the original defendant” and therefore the mailings in the four challenged counts were not closely enough related to the scheme to bring the conduct within the statute. Brief for Appellant at 20. Thus, we must decide whether the mailings in connection with the third-party complaints can support the mail fraud convictions on those counts. We must view [897]*897the evidence in the light most favorable to the government. United States v. Brown, 583 F.2d 659, 661 (3d Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 909, 99 S.Ct. 1217, 59 L.Ed.2d 456 (1979). See Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 469, 89 L.Ed. 680 (1942).

Counts 10, 13 and 14.

These counts alleged three mailings arising out of an accident between John So-chacki, the driver of one car, and Michael Joyce, driver of the second car. Lebovitz represented Sochaeki and his passenger, Joan Posa, in their medical payment claims against Sochacki’s own insurer, J.C. Penney Insurance Company, and in their personal injury suit against the driver of the other car, Michael Joyce, who was represented by Allstate Insurance Company. The medical payment claims were based on the inflated medical bills from Dr. Pincus and the damages claimed in the personal injury suit also included those bills. Joyce, through his insurer, Allstate, joined Sochaeki as an additional defendant on the Posa claim. So-chacki’s insurer, J.C. Penney, defended this third-party claim. The evidence at trial showed that J.C.

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Bluebook (online)
669 F.2d 894, 1982 U.S. App. LEXIS 22448, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 1264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-robert-a-lebovitz-ca3-1982.